Nendrum monastic site

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Nendrum monastic site contains the remains of an early Christian ecclesiastical settlement. It lies at the SW end of Mahee Island, an L-shaped island near the W shore of Strangford Lough, now approached via a causeway. The site appears to have been abandoned in the 1400s and was largely forgotten until rediscovered in 1844. The remains we see today were largely excavated in 1922-24, and some buildings ‘reassembled’, however, the finds were poorly recorded and the extent of the accuracy of the ‘restoration’ of the site is not clear and have presented problems of interpretation ever since.

The site today consists of three concentric enclosures with the remains of dry stone walling. At the N side of the outer cashel is a small circular stone lined hollow which was apparently once a kiln. The middle cashel contains the foundation remains of a small rectangular building to the W side, which may have been a school, as well as the foundation outlines of other small buildings. To the S side of this section is a small timber-built 20th century building now used as a visitor/display centre. The inner cashel contains the most substantial remains, that of the small-ish rectangular church and of a round tower. The remnants of a sun dial have been assembled and attached to the church walls as has an inscribed panel commemorating the 1922-24 excavations. The inner cashel walls have several entrances.

A detailed description of this site can be found the official Environment & Heritage Service leaflet (1997) and the Archaeological Survey of County Down (1966).

Historical information

The name Mahee Island derives its name from St. Mochai, a missionary bishop said to have been converted to Christianity by St. Patrick in the 5th century and is said to have been based here. Records of the foundation only commence in the 7th century however, but they reveal a picture of a vibrant, and apparently substantial community. The monastery was attacked in 976 and the abbot burned in his own house, though by whom remains a mystery. In the wake of the Norman Invasion in the late 1100s, John de Courcy established the Benedictine Rule. Nendrum is recorded as a parish in the Papal taxation records of 1306, but by the mid fifteenth century parish worship had moved to the mainland church of Tullynakill and this site abandoned.

It was not rediscovered until 1844 when William Reeves (later Bishop Reeves) was shown a ‘limekiln’ which he recognised as a round tower with church ruins close by. However, there appears to have been some local knowledge of a once populous site on the island, for the 1834 OS map marks the site with the words somewhat cryptic phrase ‘Old town’. The remains of Nendrum remained untouched until 1922-24 when H.C. Lawlor and Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society carried out large scale excavations. Unfortunately this work was badly recorded and the extent of the accuracy site’s ‘restoration’ remains open to question.
Much of the site is now in the care of the DOE.

References- Primary sources
1 J.F. Kenny Sources for the early history of Ireland (Dublin 1929), pp.342-45.
2 “Ecclesiastical taxation of the dioceses of Down, Connor and Dromore”, ed. William Reeves in 'Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore' ed. William Reeves (Dublin 1847).
3 PRONI OS maps 1st ed. 1834, Co. Down 17.
4 PRONI OS maps 1st rev. 1859-60, Co. Down 17.

Secondary
1 H.C. Lawlor 'The monastery of St. Mochai of Nendrum' (Belfast 1925).
2 'UJA' 21 (1958), pp.67-70.
3 'Archaeological survey of Co. Down' (HMSO 1966), pp.292-95.
4 'Nendrum' (DOE NI 1997)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Ruins of an early Christian monastic settlement, with triple cashel and remains of a church, round tower and foundation outlines of other buildings. The form of much of the structures on the present site has come about as a result of extensive excavation carried out in 1922-24, when many buildings and walls were ‘restored’.