History
The ruins of a Martello tower and an 8th-century church (the Church of the Three Sons of Nessan) are the only signs of previous habitation. The tower's window entrance 5 metres above ground level can now be accessed by a rope that hangs down from the window. The church functioned as parish church for Howth until recent centuries, eventually being replaced by a church in the village due to the limitations of having to take a boat for every service.
In Celtic times the island was called Eria's Island. Eria was a woman's name and this became confused with Erin, derived from Éireann, the Irish name for Ireland. The Vikings substituted the word Island with Ey, their Norse equivalent, and so it became known as Erin's Ey and ultimately Ireland's Eye. The island was also known formerly as Inis Faithlenn.
In September 1852 a woman named Sarah Maria Louisa Kirwan was killed on the island; her husband, William Burke Kirwan, was convicted of her murder. Matthias McDonnell Bodkin claimed in Famous Irish Trials that no murder had taken place, instead that Sarah Kirwan had drowned accidentally as a result of a fit.
Read more about this topic: Ireland's Eye
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