Welcome to Cape Clear Island Museum
Cape Clear Island Museum, Co. Cork, Ireland was established in 1981 as a voluntary organization to:
1 Organize the collection of artifacts of folk, farm and maritime life and see to their exhibition and preservation..
2 Source, collect and preserve records concerning all aspects of Cape Clear island life.
3 Develop an Exhibition Centre and Heritage Archive to house both artifacts and documentation of island interest.
With the help of the island community and Irish State Agencies an old schoolhouse building was restored and now holds a large collection of exhibition material and documentation relating to island life and history. There are to date, over 100 framed exhibition panels in the museum collection, which deal with fourteen different themes of island heritage, only a selection of which may be exhibited at any one time. Interpretative exhibition panels cover island settlement patterns, folk and farm life, genealogy, folklore, placenames, education, telegraph and maritime history. Archaeological, botanical, ornithological and genealogical surveys of the island have been undertaken and data relating to these aspects is either on exhibition or housed in the Island Archive.
Museum Events
Among international events organized by the Museum have been: The Naomh Ciarán-St Piran Millennium Jubilee Pilgrimage from Cornwall to Cape Clear and Seir Kieran, Co. Offaly (2000); The Famine of 1847 & 1863; The 1979 Fastnet Race 25th Anniversary Remembrance Ceremony (2004); The 25th Anniversary of the O Driscoll Clan Gathering-Heritage Exhibition (2011); Cape Clear Islander John K. Cotter and the 1914 Howth Gunrunning 2016.
Anniversary Exhibitions include: The 100th Anniversary of the Baltimore Fishery School (1987); 75th Anniversary of the loss of the Cape Clear boat Thomas Joseph (1993); The 100th Anniversary of Cape Clear Primary School at South Harbour; The 150th Anniversary of the building of the First Lighthouse at Fasnet Rock (2004); The 100th Anniversary of the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania (2015); Cape Clear Islander John K. Cotter and the Asgard, Howth Gunrunning (2016); O Donovan Rossa's 1863 Engagement with the Cape Clear Island Community (2016); The 40th Anniversary of the 1979 Fastnet Race Disaster (2019).
The island museum building also houses the O Driscoll Memorial Archive and exhibition panels relating to the history and heritage of the Worldwide O Driscoll family. Among exhibits is the O Driscoll Heritage plaque.
The Annual O Driscoll Clan gathering make a trip to Cape Clear Island and visits Cape Clear Museum and O Driscoll Archive where they participatr in the annual O Driscoll remembrance ceremony. Photographed outside the heritage center and archives are John O Driscoll USA O Driscoll Chieftain, Tim O Driscoll UK Chieftain and Cecilia Uí Dhrisceoil Curator of the island museum and archive.