Off the north­ern bank of the Shan­non Estu­ary lies Scat­tery Island, the site of an ear­ly Chris­t­ian set­tle­ment found­ed by an extra­or­di­nary man.

St Senan, who was born in the area, built his monastery in the ear­ly sixth cen­tu­ry. It includ­ed a mighty round tow­er, which at 36 metres is one of the tallest in Ire­land.

There are six ruined church­es on the site too. The Church of the Hill stands on a high spot, the very place where, leg­end has it, an angel placed Senan so that he could find – and then ban­ish – the ter­ri­ble sea-mon­ster called the Cathach. It is believed that Senan is buried beside anoth­er of the medieval church­es.

Scat­tery was invad­ed many times over the cen­turies. The Vikings in par­tic­u­lar believed that the monastery held many rich­es and returned sev­er­al times to rav­age it.

A short boat trip will take you to the island, where you can explore its mul­ti-lay­ered, 1,500-year his­to­ry.