Scattery Island

Scattery Island, known in Irish as Inis Cathaigh, lies in the Shannon Estuary a short distance off Kilrush in County Clare. Now uninhabited, the island was home to a monastic settlement founded by St Senan in the early sixth century, and its ruins remain the reason most people make the crossing today. The last permanent residents left in the twentieth century, and the island is now a National Monument in the care of the Office of Public Works.

The monastic remains include the ruins of several medieval churches and a round tower that is among the tallest in Ireland. Unusually, the tower’s doorway sits at ground level rather than raised above it, a detail that sets it apart from most Irish round towers. Alongside the ecclesiastical ruins, the island also carries traces of later life, including a restored village where the estuary pilots once lived, a lighthouse and a nineteenth-century artillery battery.

Scattery is reached by ferry from Kilrush Marina, a crossing of roughly twenty to thirty minutes. Guided walking tours led by OPW staff cover the story of St Senan and the island’s monastic past, and visitors are free to walk the wider island, which supports a range of plant and animal life; grey seals and otters are found in the surrounding waters. It makes for an easygoing half-day out for anyone exploring the Clare side of the Shannon.