Page 18 - COBH EDITION 15th FEBRUARY DIGITAL VERSION

‘Is it safe to visit Spike Island or could you be boiled in a pot by the
natives?’ - Trevor Laffan
There’s a very catchy statement on the Cork County Council
sponsored website for Spike Island which tells you that in the
last 1300 years, Spike Island has been home to heroes and
villains, captains and convicts, red coats and rioters, sinners
and saints.

The islands impressive 104 acres have at one time or another
hosted an Island monastery, an Island prison, an Island for-
tress and an Island home. If that doesn’t peak your interest,
then nothing will. Fortunately, I have been aware of this little
island all my life because my mother was born and raised
there.
She was born on Spike Island in 1934 and her mother was well known around the locality of
Cobh and The Great Island because she was the local midwife. She travelled in a launch from
Spike, in all types of weather, to get to Cobh to deliver babies. She was known to most people
as Nurse Carson and she delivered around two thousand babies during her lifetime.
The family moved to Cobh when my mother was still a young girl and they lived on East Hill
overlooking Cork Harbour. For the rest of her life she had an unrestricted view of Spike from
her sitting room window and she always retained a special love for the place. I grew up look-
ing at that little island and often heard her telling stories of her childhood there.
We were chatting one day, and she was lamenting the fact that she hadn’t been back there in
such a long time, so in 2006, I arranged for a launch to take us over for the day. As it hap-
pened, the guy driving the launch was also born and raised on Spike, so when we got there,
the two of them walked ahead and talked about days gone by and remembered their old
neighbours while myself and my father brought up the rear.
Many of the buildings were in a dilapidated state with windows broken, roofs falling in and
the entire area was generally overgrown. But as bad as it was, she got a great kick out of
retracing her childhood steps. She had a great day and that’s why I was delighted to see the
fantastic work that has taken place there in recent years and it’s great to see it open to the
public as a major tourist attraction.
David Linnane reported in this paper some time ago that Spike Island beat the Eiffel Tower
and Buckingham Palace in the race to be named Europe’s leading tourist attraction at the
2017 World Travel Awards. Stiff competition also came from the Acropolis in Greece and the
Coliseum in Rome, but the former prison and fortress came out on top.
More than 45,000 visitors went there in 2017 and they hope to raise that to 100,000 by
2020. About €6 million, partly funded by Fáilte Ireland has been poured into the refurbish-
ment of Spike and its success puts it right up there with Titanic Belfast and the Guinness
Storehouse.
I have no doubt that if my mother was still alive, she’d be a regular visitor too because
there’s a lot to see and the place is steeped in history. I remember looking over at Spike Is-
land in 1985 when it was a prison and the prisoners had rioted, and the place was on fire.
When the prison closed, there was little activity on the island until the Cork County Council
took it over and it’s great to see some life there again. The large number of visitors flocking
there during the summer months are very welcome. But not every island serves up a warm
welcome to strangers.