Scattery Island Tours

Scattery Island Tours run guided ferry trips out to Scattery Island (Inis Cathaigh), which sits in the Shannon Estuary off the coast of County Clare. Boats depart from Kilrush Marina at Merchants Quay in Kilrush, passing through the marina lock gates for the short crossing to the island, which takes roughly twenty to thirty minutes depending on the tides and weather.

The island is best known for its early Christian monastic remains, associated with a community founded by St Senan in the sixth century. Visitors can see a well-preserved round tower, a cathedral and the ruins of several medieval churches set among open grassland. Alongside the ecclesiastical sites, the island holds a lighthouse, a nineteenth-century artillery battery built to guard the estuary, and a restored village where former residents and estuary pilots once lived; people lived on Scattery until the late 1970s.

On arrival, guests are met by guides and taken on a walking tour of the site, with the standard visit allowing roughly two and a half hours on the island. Longer stays and options such as group and school tours and private charters are also offered. Scattery is a designated Special Area of Conservation, and its grassland supports a range of plant and animal life, so the island combines heritage and wildlife in a single, peaceful outing on the water.