Kerry island structure may be due to tsunami waves in medieval times

Alan E Hayden, the director of more than 200 medieval excavations in Ireland, believes the grouping of islands off the Kerry coast suggests earthquake and tsunami wave style damage...

The Times report adds: "A folk tale collected by a teacher in the early part of the last century offers an explanation for local place names connected to a road that ran from Dolus Head through the islands to Skellig.

"The road, a pre-medieval structure, is called Bóthar na Scairte, or road of the cataclysm, and it is traceable for some distance on Valentia. In the folk tale the road and a local hero were destroyed by a great cataclysm, probably an earthquake followed by a wave.

"According to the tale, 'a terrible wave 50ft high' rushed towards a gathering of people on a summer day on Valentia. Everyone except the hero scrambled to higher ground. The wave separated Skellig and Valentia from each other."

Hayden says that the occurrence of tsunamis affecting the south and west coasts of Ireland is surprisingly well documented.

A 1775 earthquake in the Portuguese capital Lisbon caused a tsunami which reached Kinsale and which flooded the Spanish Arch in Galway.

He also noted that in the 1850s a tidal wave washed 15 men off the cliffs of Inishmore.

Danger on the seas as walls of water sink tankers [11/09/2002]
And only two years ago the British superliner Oriana was struck by a 70ft wave that smashed windows and sent water cascading through the ship, swamping six of its 10 decks. A month later eight men were killed when a freak wave struck the Anorient trawler 87 miles west of Loop Head in Co Clare...
Clare Places: Islands: Mutton Island or Enniskerry (9th century catastrophe in Ireland) [1/18/2005]
According to the "Annals of the Four Masters" the island was once called Fitha Island and it formed part of the mainland until the day "the sea swelled so high that it burst its boundaries, overflowing a large tract of country, and drowning over 1,000 persons." This happened on March 16th, 804... "the sea divided the island of Fitha into three parts." These three islands are Mutton Island, Inismattle (or Illanwattle) and Roanshee (or Carrig na Ron). There is a fourth island in the area called Carraig Aolacan.
6,000-year-old settlement poses tsunami mystery [5/13/2012]
...Radiocarbon dating of a shellfish midden on Fanore Beach in north Clare have revealed it to be at least 6,000 years old... The archaeologists are also hoping to establish the make-up of a mysterious substance found during the excavation. The substance, which is two or three inches deep, disintegrates when it comes in contact with air. A large slab of the material has remained intact on an ancient settlement, indicating that a large amount of it was laid down at once, possibly as the result of a tsunami.

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And only two years ago the British superliner Oriana was struck by a 70ft wave that smashed windows and sent water cascading through the ship, swamping six of its 10 decks. A month later eight men were killed when a freak wave struck the Anorient trawler 87 miles west of Loop Head in Co Clare...

That would be a rogue wave, a different phenomenon than tsunamis. For years most people refused to believe they existed.

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