Overview
Saints’ Island is reached on foot, across a narrow, un-tarmacked causeway about a kilometre long, off the southeastern shore of Lough Ree near Newtowncashel. At the end of it are the ruins of a medieval priory and a reed-fringed shore that draws curlews, lapwings and wintering ducks. There is nothing else: no shop, no ticket office, no engine noise, just the wind off the lake and the walk.
If you make the crossing, the one thing to see is the priory chapel, open to the sky and still holding the scale of the original church. Come in spring or autumn and you get the bird migration on top of it.
History and heritage
The island’s religious story reaches back to the early sixth century. Tradition holds that St Ciarán of Clonmacnoise founded a church here before 542 AD, though the evidence is thin; some later accounts credit St Kevin instead, a sign of how much of this rests on layered oral tradition.
It was not always a peaceful place. In 1089 the island was attacked and plundered by Muirchertach O’Brien and a force of Danes, an event set down in the annals. By 1185 Sir Henry Dillon had been granted the lands that include Saints’ Island, and an entry in the Annals of Connacht for 1272 attributes the building of the Augustinian Priory of All Saints to Dillon.
The priory did well under Abbot Augustin Magraidhin in the fourteenth century. Before his death in 1405 he compiled two manuscript collections, the lives of Irish saints and the Annals of the Priory, now held in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The surviving fragment covers 1397 to 1407 and includes a rare Irish account of King Richard II’s 1399 expedition to Ireland. Like every monastic house, the community declined after the dissolution under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, and by the late seventeenth century the island’s house was recorded as “ruined”.
The poet Ted Hughes fished Lough Ree with the painter Barrie Cooke and came away with a poem, “Saint’s Island” (1986), a small literary footnote to the place.
Exploring the ruins
The chapel is the largest surviving structure and the most striking. Its Gothic windows, especially the carved altar window, drop shafts of light onto the weathered floor, and with the roof long gone you get the full height of the old worship space.
To the north you can still trace the faint square of the cloister garth, which marks out where the chapter house, refectory and two-storey dormitory once stood. West of the chapel, a solitary medieval latrine survives, a practical and surprisingly rare reminder of monastic daily life.
The site is self-guided, and the walls and arches are fragile. Climbing on them is prohibited.
Wildlife and birdwatching
The reed-fringed shoreline is the draw for birds. In spring and autumn the marshes fill with curlews, lapwings, teal, wigeon and other wild ducks, and a walk along the causeway often turns up a heron or a kingfisher. The surrounding water holds mute swans and, now and then, ospreys.
The best windows are March to May and September to October, when the migratory flocks move through. Binoculars help, though a good deal is visible from the causeway with the naked eye.
On the water
Anglers cast from the causeway or launch a small boat for pike, perch and trout in the sheltered southern arm of Lough Ree, and kayakers use the inlet as a put-in for short trips. There is no formal boat ramp on the island, but nearby Lanesborough has hire and guided trips, and some operators run day outings that pass the island for a view of the ruins from the water.
The inlet is also a long-standing local swimming spot, shallow and clear enough for a quick dip on a warm day, with a grassy fringe that suits a picnic.
Practical information
- Access – A narrow, un-tarmacked causeway, roughly a kilometre long, links the island to the mainland near Newtowncashel. It is passable on foot year-round in normal conditions, with a small, informal car park at the mainland end (no fee, no staff).
- Facilities – None. No toilets, no café, no bins. Bring water, snacks and footwear for uneven ground, and take your litter home.
- Opening – The chapel and burial ground are open daily and free. The site is self-guided; climbing the fragile ruins is prohibited.
- Accessibility – The causeway is uneven and difficult for wheelchairs or push-chairs.
- Seasonal notes – The causeway can flood and become impassable after heavy rain, and closures have been reported during storms. Check the forecast and the Longford County Council page before travelling, especially in winter.
Nearby attractions
Saints’ Island works well as one stop on a Lough Ree day out:
- Inis Clothrann (Quaker Island) – Another monastic island with extensive ruins, a short boat ride away.
- Barley Harbour – A quiet limestone harbour on the lake’s edge, good for a picnic.
- Corlea Trackway Visitor Centre – Europe’s largest Iron-Age bog road, near Keenagh.
- Abbeylara – A well-preserved Cistercian abbey a few kilometres inland.