The island's Catholic church contains beautiful stained glass windows made by the Harry Clarke Studios, among the finest ecclesiastical glass artists Ireland has produced. The altar was built by the father of Patrick Pearse, who read the declaration of independence in 1916. The church has a warm wooden interior and sits on the main road in the centre of the island.
Our Lady & St John Church
Catholic church with stained glass by the Harry Clarke Studios
A story
James Henry Pearse, father of Patrick Pearse who proclaimed the Irish Republic in 1916, carved the altar in this church — one of many small Irish churches where his workshop left its mark in the 1880s and 1890s. The Harry Clarke stained glass came later, in the 1920s. Clarke's windows are in over 160 Irish churches, but the ones on Inis Meáin, seen on a grey Atlantic day with the light coming sideways through the glass, have a particular intensity.