High Island and the cult of Saint Féichín in Connemara

High Island is one of very many early medieval monastic sites which furnish scarcely a mention in the historical record. It follows, then, that any attempt to sketch out the history of the island must inevitably be tentative and conjectural. What few references there are have already been collected and discussed in White Marshall and Rourke (2000, esp. 7-21, 215-28). Some of these were earlier collected by Petrie (1845, 424-427). This chapter aims to supplement that material and provide a fresh assessment, giving in addition some account of the wider circumstances that may have shaped the monastery during the lifetime of ts occupation.