Cloch Chuimhneacháin (Memorial Stone), No. 16 on our map, was erected in 2013 to honour all those the sea has taken. The stone is ideally situated overlooking the Atlantic on the west coast of Inis Oírr.
It is a beautifully created piece of sculpture, designed and carved on a specially chosen local stone by Alexandra Morosco, with lettering by Karin Sprague. We are eternally grateful to them both and are proud to call them friends.
The Irish language (Gaeilge) inscription on the stone is in two parts. The first: ‘I gCuimhne ar an dream a thóg an fharraige uainn’ translates as ‘In remembrance of all those the sea took from us’
The second part is from the poem Cuimhní Cinn by the great Aran Island poet Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910 – 1988), one of the foremost Irish language poets of the twentieth century: “Maireann a gcuimhne fós i m’aigne” which translates as: “Their memory still lives in my mind”
Alexandra is an amazing sculptor who we met through our mutual fascination with stone at Féile na gCloch (StoneFest) here on Inis Oírr. You can lean more about Alexandra from her website moroscofinearts.com where you can also watch The ‘An Chloch’ Story