Tory Island
A small island off Donegal that Irish legend made the fortress of the Fomorians, where Conand's tower was stormed and Balor kept his daughter.
- Location
- About 11 km off northwest County Donegal
- Modern country
- Ireland
- Irish name
- Toraigh
- Area
- 3.58 km²; 141 residents (2022)
- Legend
- Fomorian towers of Conand and Balor
- History
- Monastery founded by Colmcille, 6th century
What is Tory Island known for?
Tory Island (Irish Toraigh, 'place of steep rocky heights') lies about 11 kilometres off the northwest coast of County Donegal. It is about five kilometres long, with around 140 inhabitants who still choose an informal 'king'. A monastery was founded there by St Colmcille (Columba) in the 6th century and lasted until English forces destroyed it in 1595.
In Irish legend the island was a stronghold of the Fomorians, the monstrous sea-raiders who oppose the earlier peoples of Ireland. The Lebor Gabála Érenn, the 11th-century Book of Invasions, tells how the people of Nemed stormed Conand's Tower on Tory, only for the Fomorians to return with a great fleet and a sea that rose against the attackers.
Folklore also makes Tory the home of Balor of the evil eye, who locked his daughter Ethniu in a tower there to defeat a prophecy that her son would kill him. These stories are medieval literature and later folklore; they are not historical records of the island.
The storming of the Fomorians' tower on Tory Island is one of the strange details in the Book of Invasions.
Mentioned on these pages
- Rabbit holeBalor
- Rabbit holeLebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions)
- PersonNemed
Sources
- Wikipedia, 'Tory Island'Reference
- Lebor Gabála Érenn, ed. R. A. S. Macalister, introduction and index (CELT, University College Cork)Primary text
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