When illustrating my map of Cork I stumbled up the Carraig Aonair, which means the Lone Rock. It's a small isolated rock in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Clear Island, County Cork.
It’s famous for the Fastnet Lighthouse but also a powerful symbol for Irish emigrants — often called “Ireland’s Teardrop”, because it was the last sight of Ireland seen by ships leaving for America.
There was something about the name that realy stayed with me.
I was thinking of the heartbreak those emigrants must have felt as Ireland slowly disappeared from view. For most, it would be the last time they ever saw their homeland again. Ireland’s Teardrop. What a fitting name
