Inis Meain has a population of approximately 300 people, one pub, a community hall and a post office. The island has an airstrip where Aer Arann runs regular trips to and from Inverin. Boats from the other islands and the mainland dock at An Cora pier. Near the pier is Tra Leitreach, a safe beach for swimming.
The huge fort of Dun Conor, Dun Conchuir (Conor’s Fort), is visible from the sound as the boat approaches the island. After Dun Aonghasa, this is the largest and most impressive of all the Aran forts and perhaps dates to the 1st century AD. From the fort there is a panoramic view of the island. As with Inis Mor the atmosphere of the island can be best savoured on foot. Recommended walks are: to the western shore: east to Cora Point and to Sandhead in the Northeast.
The playwright, John Millington Synge, spent each summer from 1898 to 1902 on Inis Meain and studied the life pattern of the people. The cottage where Synge stayed is today signposted as Teach Synge. He set his great drama of the sea, Riders to the Sea, on Inishmaan. On the cliffs near Dun Beag there is a stony location named Cathaoir Synge (Synge’s Chair) where the playwright would meditate. The Synge weekend held each July is an enjoyable mixture of lectures, drama and music.
One feature of Inis Meain, of which islanders are extremely proud, is the knitwear factory. Comharchumann Inis Meain,, the Inishmaan Co-operative, was established by the island families in order to promote the development of their own community. Black wool seems to have been used in the manufacture of garments from about 4,000 BC. The black sheep are now extinct, their place occupied by the Galways, a breed of Lowland sheep who wool is used in the manufacture of the famous Aran sweaters.
The people of Aran are famous for the unusual quality of knitted garments produced and the women of these islands still knit at home and perpetuate the fine designs that distinguish this knitting. The patterns are memorized and transmitted to the children, who continue the tradition. Each woman has her own repertoire of designs. In former times, it was said that if an island fisherman was drowned, the most reliable means of identification was the sweater he was wearing.
However Aran knitting was originally a male occupation developed by sailors on long voyages and by fishermen waiting for the fish to bite. The complexity of the patterns exceeds that of the practical cable stitch evolved from seafaring and the more elaborate patterns of the diamond, the trellis, the zigzag, the tree of life, the Trinity, the honeycomb and spoon stitch have been mooted to originate from the monks of Coptic Egypt, and could be interpreted as an illiterate peoples way of expressing profound religious ideas. Indeed many of the Aran traditions share a maritime heritage with countries along the Atlantic seaboard not mirrored in other areas on the larger island of Ireland