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Western Ireland | Mayo | People | Credits & Links
Dorinish Island - Clew Bay
John Lennon's dream island for sale
In our search for new paradises we've stumbled upon our own neverland, an island that actually exists and that was going to become the buen retiro of John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
Dorinish Island was recently put on the market by its current owners, to whom Yoko Ono had sold it after John's death.
We all at Paradise Possible are now thrilled to present Dorinish Island, the retreat where John and Yoko imagined spending their lives, as our first paradise for sale in Mayo and as a dream for somebody to capture and make come true.
Dorinish Island is one of the most westerly islands and islets scattered across Clew Bay, the large ocean bay on the western side of Mayo and overlooked by Croagh Patrick. According to local folklore, the islands are said to be 365, one for each day of the year, but in reality there are circa 117.
Dorinish is made up of two smaller islands - Dorinish Beg and Dorinish More - connected by a natural causeway, for a total surface area of circa 19 acres.
Back in the 19th century, marine pilots used to live there with their families, as witnessed by the remains of their stone houses. The island is currently uninhabited, the only living creatures being grazing sheep and sea birds: a true haven of peace and a wildlife sanctuary.
When the BBC came to shoot a documentary on Ireland for the TV series Coast, the crew who found themselves on that stretch of Mayo's Atlantic coast, at the sight of Clew Bay, captured the enchantment of that scenery and the images of that waterworld that, long before, John Lennon had chosen to reinvent his life.
In 1967, for the sum of £1,700, John made one of the 117 islands his own. The silence of Clew Bay, the sound of the waves and the incredible green of all those islands around, were for him the answer to his desire of making his ideals of hope, peace and love - those same ideals that defined what most positive there was in his generation - come true.
That island was the perfect place to unleash imagination, reflect and live a simple life.
Yoko Ono, after John's death, said: "We often discussed the idea of building a cottage there. It was so beautiful, so tranquil, yet so isolated, it seemed a perfect place to get away from it all”.
Lennon had visited the island with Michael Browne, a local who only took him once to Dorinish and who recounts that John was constantly panning a cine-camera to get a panoramic of the bay for his project.
While the project was still taking shape, he lent the island to the journails and peace activist Sid Rawle, also known by many as "the king of the hippies".
Those first sketches that John himself had drawn to build a house on the island, and for which he had also obtained planning permission, is what's left of a plan that was never going to happen.
The island was sold by Yoko Ono four years after Lennon's death, and the proceeds were donated to an Irish orphanage.
Almost thirty years on, this magical place still known locally as "Beatle Island" is looking for a new owner, with a dream.
Follow John Lennon's dream and make it happen!
Dorinish Island represents not only an opportunity for investment with unlimited development possibilities, but also that of capturing the dream that's behind it, John Lennon's dream, and making it happen. Imagination is the only limit.
The property consists of the two islands of Dorinish Beg and Dorinish More, for a total extension of circa 19 acres (7.7 hectares), and includes the ruins of the Pilot Houses, dating back to the 1800's.
The island can be reached in circa 15 minutes from Lecanvey and Murrisk piers and from Westport harbour.
Dorinish Island is for sale at €200,000.
For additional information or to plan a visit to Dorinish Island, contact:
Sherry FitzGerald Crowley
James Street, Westport, Co Mayo
Phone: +353 98 29009
Email: info@sfcrowley.ie
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