Nendrum Monastic Site, Mahee IslandAuthor(s): Roger BradleySource: History Ireland, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Jul. - Aug., 2009), pp. 8-9Published by: Wordwell Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27726032 .

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History IRELAND

On this day

jlily 1?

Lt-Gen. Sir Ian Freeland took up duties as

GOC Northern Ireland.

12

Serious rioting broke out in Belfast when

bottles were thrown at Orange bands passing the Catholic enclave of Unity Flats, near the

Shan kill Road. Similar disturbances, lasting well into the following day, erupted in Derry when Catholic youths stoned the Twelfth of

July parade.

13

In Dungiven, Co. Derry, the RUC launched

repeated baton charges at Catholics

attempting to storm an Orange hall, and B

Specials fired shots over the heads of people leaving a dance hall. In a subsequent m?l?e,

an onlooker, Francis McCluskey (70), was

assaulted. He died the following day, the first

death in the Troubles.

16

Dr James McCann resigned as archbishop of

Armagh and primate of all Ireland. He was

succeeded by Dr G. O. Simms. Fr Eamonn

Casey, director of the Housing Aid Society in London, was appointed RC bishop of Kerry.

18

US Senator Edward Kennedy's car careered

off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, a 28-year old Washington secretary. Serious questions were asked about the 37-year-old senator's

conduct, not least his decision to leave the

scene of the accident and not contact the

police until several hours later.

20

The Derry Citizens' Action Committee was

superseded by the more militant Derry Citizens' Defence Association.

21

Six and a half hours after landing, Neil

Armstrong (below), before a television

audience of hundreds of millions, became the

first man to walk on the moon,

in the Republic, the Finance Act (1969, Section 2) exempted persons deemed to

have written, composed or executed works

of cultural or artistic merit from income tax

on gains arisiti^from such works.

8

NENDRUM MONASTIC SITE, MAHEE ISLAND

Roger Bradley reflects on a place of rare beauty and

tranquillity hidden on the shores of Strangford Lough# near the

town of Comber, Co. Down, until rediscovered in 1844.

Nendrum is an excellent example of a

pre-Norman island monastic site, which

dates back to the fifth century and had remained lost to us until rediscovered by

the historian Reeves in 1844. Later, in

1922, H. C. Lawlor oversaw excavations

and restoration work under the auspices

of the Belfast Natural History and

Philosophical Society. St Machaoi founded the monastic

community, and there are reports that in

AD 976 the abbot was burned in his house. This is very possible, as Viking fleets were active in Strangford Lough in

the ninth and tenth centuries. St Mochaoi was born in Ireland and it is said that he was baptised by St Patrick, who

appointed him abbot over Nendrum. The

Tripartite Life of Patrick, written c. AD 900,

tells how St Patrick converted the young swineherd Mochaoi and left him with a

Gospel and crozier. St Finian, who built an

abbey in the nearby town of

Newtownards, and St Colman were said

to be among his disciples. Today St Mochaoi has been Anglicised as St

Mahee.

The site was documented in papal

taxation records as a parish church in

1306, but by the fifteenth century it had been abandoned when the parish church

was moved to Tullynakill on the mainland.

The site became lost until rediscovered by Reeves, and subsequent restoration work

following excavations in the 1920s restored it to its current condition.

The site consists of three drystone walls defining an inner area that contains

History IRELAND July/August 2009

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.7. . .:l . . ... ......... ... .

....~~~*. . . .. . IBM: M :. v.:.l i- =iL

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Opposite page: The restored sundial, with

the base of the round tower to the left.

(Roger Bradley)

Above: Sunset from the road bridge to

Mahee. (Roger Bradley)

a church ruin, the most notable feature of

which is a sundial, the remains of a round

tower and a graveyard. Moving to the

middle enclosure, the foundation remains

of huts and workshops can be found, but

little is known about the third enclosure

defined by the remains of the outer wall.

From the inner enclosure there are great

views across Whiterock and the drumlins

of County Down.

In relatively recent times a further

discovery was made?a stone-built tidal

mill from the Early Christian period. The keen eye can identify its features on the

foreshore of Mahee Island. The mill, at first

believed to have been a fish-pond, was

undoubtedly associated with the adjacent monastic site. What makes this discovery

of particular interest is that, while

previously discovered tidal mills had vertical wheels, the Nendrum example

provides evidence of the first horizontal

tidal mill to be found in Ireland or Britain,

opening a new chapter in Early Christian

industrial archaeology. The tidal mill has

been dated to AD 619, and the remains of a landing stage for boats arriving with

History IRELAND July/August 2009

grain for milling can still be seen, as well

as other man-made rock deposits?all

that is left of the dam for holding back the tidal waters.

Nendrum is a site well worth visiting and it is amazing that it is not better known. There is a small museum in which

visitors can view various artefacts and a

multimedia presentation. Other artefacts

associated with the site are kept in the Ulster Museum, Belfast. Access to

Nendrum is via Killinchy Road, just outside Comber, hi

Roger Bradley is a photographer living in

County Down, specialising in rural

landscape, historical sites, churches and

events photography.

Edward Lear in Ireland Just in case readers were puzzled by the absence of rocks in the

foreground, the caption for Edward Lear's drawing in the last issue (pp 8-9) should have read 'The Great and Little Sugarloafs, Co. Wicklow'. It

shows a view from the Powercourt

demesne rather than from the Scalp.

The exhibition of Lear drawings runs at

Grasmere, Cumbria, from 2 July to 4

October 2009. Details @

www.wordsworth.org.uk.

History IRELAND

On this day

August 1969 2-3

The RUC dispersed a loyalist crowd

massing at Unity Flats. Clashes began as

they pushed them back to the Shankill, barricades went up, shops were looted and

police cars set on fire. Fighting went on

overnight until B-Specia!s were sent in and

the situation calmed down.

9

The actress Sharon T?te was murdered

along with four others in her Hollywood home, which she shared with her husband, the director Roman Polanski, by followers

of Charles Manson.

12

The annual Apprentice Boys march in

Derry triggered three days of rioting in the

city. RUC officers, B-Specials and loyalists stormed into the nationalist Bogside area,

leading to the 'Battle of the Bogside'. 'Free

Derry' came into being. CS gas was used

for the first time in Northern Ireland.

13

The British government announced that

troops were being sent to Derry 'to take all

necessary steps, acting impartially between

citizen and citizen, to restore law and

order. Troops will be withdrawn as soon as

this is accomplished. This is a limited

operation.' Taoiseach jack Lynch, in a

television broadcast, said that 'the Irish

government can no longer stand by and

see innocent people injured and perhaps worse'. He announced that Irish troops and

field hospitals were being moved to the

border. He requested the British

government to seek the despatch of a UN

peacekeeping force.

14

The 'Battle of the Bogside' ended when the

RUC were replaced by British troops.

15

The third day of serious violence in Belfast.

Overnight disturbances on the Falls

Road/Shankill Road divide and in Ardoyne led to six deaths. Over 100 houses, mainly

Catholic-owned, were destroyed. Huge barricades sprang up, particularly in the

Falls. That afternoon British troops moved

into the city, to be welcomed by residents

of the Falls Road with cups of tea.

The four-day Woodstock music and art

festival opened on a 600-acre farm in

Bethal, Sullivan County, New York.

31

Figures published showed that ten deaths

had occurred in Northern Ireland during the violence of July/August; 154 people had suffered gunshot wounds and 745 had

been injured in other ways; 170 homes

had been destroyed and another 417

damaged. Catholic-owned or occupied

property accounted for 83.5% of the

damage.

9

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