Waves of Tory: The story of an Atlanitc community

In a world where everything seems tame and familiar, islands promise wildness and difference. Tory Island, the most remote and exposed of all the inhabited Irish islands, is no exception to this rule. The great seas ranging in from the Atlantic and the strong currents sweeping along its southern coast have isolated the island thus helping in the retention of a way of life that has long since disappeared on the mainland and the survival of Irish as the spoken language. The Waves of Tory tells the story of this small community in terms of their attachment to the land, their reverence for and awe of the sea, and their well-preserved egalitarian society, where dancers, musicians, storytellers and painters take pride of place. The text, in English and Irish, is interlaced with legends, and illustrated with accounts of island customs and beliefs. The Tory islanders are a people whose roots go back to prehistoric times; typical is the King of Tory, Patsy Dan Rodgers, whose office is pre-Christian in origin. Links with the past are everywhere in evidence from the Iron Age fort, home to Balor of the Evil Eye, to the impressive remains of the early Celtic Church of St Colmcille. Superimposed on this pattern are the clustered settlements and vast open fields of the ancient Rundale farming system and the piers, boat rests, and kelp-pits, the products of man's more recent activities on the sea and the shore. These survivals from the past strike deep resonances with those in search of the "real" Ireland. The Waves of Tory comes at a time when Ireland's Atlantic heritage is under threat as it has never been before. Important changes have taken place on Tory in recent times, which have threatened the very existence of the island community; the demise of farming and the cessation of fishing have encouraged persistent rumours of evacuation. It would be a tragedy if this little island, were to be evacuated like many other Atlantic communities during the twentieth century.