Whiddy Island National School, Trawnahaha townland, Whiddy Island, Co. Cork
(dated 1887)
NGR: 096974, 049791
Whiddy Island is a small, near-shore island located at the head of Bantry Bay in Co. Cork. Not far from the modern quayside and in the townland of Trawnahaha is a small late 19th-century one-roomed school house overlooking Bantry Bay below. Painted bright blue with a white lime-wash, in recent years the building had been used as a local museum though it has now fallen into a state of disrepair.
Like so many offshore islands in Ireland, the permanent population has dwindled through the 20th century and can no longer support a local national school. John Chambers’ “Islands – Change in Population 1841 – 2011” clearly shows the island’s decline from a peak population of 729 in 1841:
| Year | Pop | ±% |
| 1841 | 729 | – |
| 1851 | 561 | −23.0% |
| 1901 | 259 | −53.8% |
| 1951 | 104 | −59.8% |
| 1996 | 34 | −67.3% |
| 2002 | 29 | −14.7% |
| 2006 | 22 | −24.1% |
| 2011 | 20 | −9.1% |
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