Nendrum Monastery was a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

on Mahee Island in Strangford Lough,

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. Medieval records say it was founded in the 5th century, but this is uncertain. The monastery came to an end at some time between 974 and 1178, but its church served a parish until the site was abandoned in the 15th century. Some remains of the monastery can still be seen.

History

The island monastery of Nendrum was traditionally founded in the 5th century by Mochaoi, after whom Mahee Island is named, although a later date for the foundation has been suggested. Mo Chaoi, like the name of many Irish saints, is a

pet name A hypocorism ( or ; from Ancient Greek: (), from (), 'to call by pet names', sometimes also ''hypocoristic'') or pet name is a name used to show affection for a person. It may be a diminutive form of a person's name, such as '' Izzy'' for ...

. His proper name was Caolán and according to tradition he was appointed by St. Patrick.Halpin, Andrew, & Conor Newman, ''Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600'' (Oxford University Press, 2006, , )
pp. 99-100
at books.google.comMacdonald, Philip, of Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork,

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

,
Monitoring at Nendrum, Mahee Island, Co. Down 2003
' at qub.ac.uk (pdf file) However, dendrochronology has dated a tide mill on the island to the year 619, making this the oldest excavated tide mill anywhere in the world. The monastic site included

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of la ...

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or s ...

s, arable fields, and a guest-house. In his ''Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, Connor, and Dromore'', William Reeves notes that several

annal Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction between ann ...

s record the death of St Mochaoi of Nendrum at a variety of dates between 490 and 497. He considers that Nendrum was early chosen as the seat of a bishop, quoting the ''

Annals of Tigernach The ''Annals of Tigernach'' (abbr. AT, ga, Annála Tiarnaigh) are chronicles probably originating in Clonmacnoise, Ireland. The language is a mixture of Latin and Old and Middle Irish. Many of the pre-historic entries come from the 12th-cen ...

'' and the ''

Annals of Ulster The ''Annals of Ulster'' ( ga, Annála Uladh) are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years from 431 AD to 1540 AD. The entries up to 1489 AD were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín ...

'', both of which describe Cronan (died c. 640) as "bishop of Nendrum". There are references to Nendrum in various sources, such as the ''

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or mediev ...

'', between the 7th century and the year 974, when the Four Masters record that "Sedna Ua Demain, Abbot of Nendrum, was consumed in his own house".Reeves, ''op. cit.''
p. 150
at books.google.com This is read as meaning that Sedna was burnt, perhaps during a

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...

raid,
Nendrum Monastery
' at theoldschoolhouseinn.com and is the last heard of Nendrum in the annals. Reeves says – The English monks were

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...

s and founded a small cell on Mahee Island. However, in 1306 Nendrum was recorded as a parish church, and during the 15th century it was abandoned for a new site at the village of

Tullynakill Tullynakill () is a civil parish and townland (of 317 acres) in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is situated in the historic barony of Castlereagh Lower. History The name Tullynakill appears in the 1615 Terrier of church property and on the R ...

. The location of Nendrum was then lost until it was rediscovered in 1844 by William Reeves, who visited the island searching for the church recorded in 1306 and recognized the remains of a round tower.

Archaeology

Since being excavated by H. C. Lawlor between 1922 and 1924, with the resulting finds now kept in the

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treas ...

, the site has been much restored. The rectangular building yielded about 30 slate tablets bearing Celtic designs. These 'trial-pieces' are now in the Ulster Museum along with a bell and a stone with an inscription in runes also from the site. Parts of the site were excavated later, by A. C. Thomas in 1954, by D. Waterman in the 1960s and by N. Brannon in 1979 and 1982. Lawlor's work was the first extensive excavation of such a large ecclesiastical site, and his technique has been criticized by modern standards, but one of the reasons for Nendrum's importance to archaeologists is that it is still the only major site of its kind which has been the subject of published excavation reports.

Features

The principal monastic remains which can now be seen are three concentric (enclosures) of

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction me ...

walling, but these were substantially rebuilt by Lawlor in the 1920s. The central has the round tower remains, a ruined church with a

sun-dial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

, and a graveyard. The second contains what is called a 'monastic school' or workshop and other burials. The canonical sundial now seen at one corner of the ruined church was reconstructed from fragments found during the excavation of the site in 1924 and has been dated to about the year 900.The County Down sundial trail
at sundials.co.uk One of only a few early medieval sun-dials known to exist, it takes the form of a vertical stone pillar, 190 cm high, 40 cm wide and 15 cm thick, with the dial and

gnomon A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields. History A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the o ...

on one face at the top. However, because of the nature of the reconstruction, the original height of the pillar is conjectural.

Ongoing spirituality

Nendrum lies within the United Parish of Killinchy, Kilmood and Tullynakill. The current Rector of the parish, Rev. Dr. Stanley Gamble has spiritual authority and responsibility for the ancient site. On the Sunday after the summer solstice each year, the parish has an open-air service within the walls of the old church. On Sunday 25 June 2017, the first Christening service took place at the site since the monastery was dissolved. An annual service is also held at the monastery by St. Mary's Parish, Comber, on Palm Sunday each year.

Tourism

Mahee Island is within Strangford Lough, a body of water which has been designated as an

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is an area of countryside in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Areas are designated in recognition of th ...

. The island is approached by narrow roads and causeways leading from the A22 road south of

Comber Comber ( , , locally ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of C ...

, which is the road to

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be th ...

. A cottage was built on the island in the early 20th century and is now used as a visitor centre. The island is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm between Easter and 30 September, and from 12 pm to 4 pm on Sundays from October to Easter.Nendrum Monastic Site
at discovernorthernireland.com

Gallery

File:Old monastic site, Nendrum (1) - geograph.org.uk - 319080.jpg, Nendrum, stump of round tower, 2007 File:Nendrum Monastery Ruins - geograph.org.uk - 346245.jpg, Nendrum, monastery ruins, 1997 File:Sun Dial Nendrum Monastery Ruins - geograph.org.uk - 346240.jpg, Nendrum, sundial, 1997 File:Nendrum Abbey Ruins.jpg, Nendrum Abbey Ruins 2007 File:Nendrum August 2015.JPG, Aerial view of Nendrum Monastery, 2015

Bibliography

* Reeves, William, 'A description of Nendrum, commonly called Mahee Island, embracing its present condition and past history', in ''Ulster Journal of Archaeology'' (second series) 8, 13–22, 58–68 (1845, reprinted 1902) *Knox, A., ''A history of the county of Down: from the most remote period to the present day: including an account of its early colonization, ecclesiastical, civil, and military polity, geography,topography, antiquities and natural history'' (Dublin: Hodges, Foster & Co., 1875) *Lawlor, H. C., ''The monastery of Saint Mochaoi of Nendrum'' (Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 1925) *Fitzsimons, E. M., ''Mochae of Nendrum and his cult'' (unpublished M.Phil. thesis, Queen's University of Belfast, 2000) *Macdonald, P., ''Excavations at Mahee Castle, Co. Down'' CAF Data Structure Report No. 11 (Centre for Archaeological Fieldwork, Queen's University Belfast, 2003) *Matthews, G. ''Nendrum rediscovered'' (unpublished undergraduate thesis, Queen's University of Belfast, 1995) *McErlean, T., and Crothers, N., 'The Early Medieval tide mills at Nendrum, an interim statement', in McErlean, T., McConkey, R., and Forsythe, W., ''Strangford Lough. An archaeological survey of the maritime cultural landscape'' (Northern Ireland Archaeol. Mono. No. 6) (Blackstaff Press Limited and Environment and Heritage Service, Belfast, 2002) *Baoill, R., and McQuaid, Y., ''Mahee Castle'' (unpublished excavation summary report, Belfast, 2002)

References

External links

Nendrum Monastic Site
- official site at Northern Ireland Environment Agency *
Monitoring at Nendrum, Mahee Island, Co. Down 2003
' — at qub.ac.uk (pdf file)
The Ghosts of Nendrum, Mobile Learning
— at bbc.co.uk {{Authority control Christianity in medieval Ireland Christian monasteries in Northern Ireland Ruins in Northern Ireland Religion in County Down Buildings and structures in County Down Tidal islands of Northern Ireland Islands of County Down 1st-millennium establishments in Ireland Northern Ireland Environment Agency properties Archaeology of Northern Ireland Archaeological museums in Northern Ireland Museums in County Down Archaeological sites in County Down Religious museums in the United Kingdom Religious museums in Ireland Ruined abbeys and monasteries