Isles Of Arran, three small islands lying at the entrance of Galway bay, off the W. coast of Ireland; total area, about 18 sq. m. The largest is Inishmore, the northern island; the next in size, Inishmain, lies in the centre; and; the southern one is called Inishere. They are low and barren, producing only potatoes and the most hardy grain; yet the greater part of their surface, which is divided into plots gene-rally less than an acre in extent, is under cultivation by a wretched population of about 3,200, who live in miserable huts. On one of the northern cliffs of Inishmore stands a very ancient fort built by the Belgae, it is supposed, early in the 1st century. Other structures of equal age are found in all three islands; and there are also numerous ruins of the oratories, dwellings, and churches of early Irish hermits, many of whom retired to these isolated places in the 6th and 7th centuries, giving to Inish-more especially the name of Arran of the Saints (Aran-na-naomh). The Irish carls of Arran take their title from these islands.