Inis Cathaigh

Inis Cathaigh or Scattery Island is an island inside the Shannon Estuary, Ireland, off the coast of Kilrush, County Clare. The island is domestic to a lighthouse, a ruined monastery, an Irish spherical tower and the stays of an artillery battery. The Irish call Inis Cathaigh become previously anglicised Iniscathy, which later have become Iniscattery and in the end Scattery. Most of the island is now owned by using the Office of Public Works, who run a small traveler centre and carry out maintenance and renovation at the island. It turned into sold by means of Duchas in 1991.

The Vikings first raided Inis Cathaigh in 815, killing among the clergymen. The monastery changed into plundered again and again until the Vikings came to settle there themselves in the mid-10th century. This, in flip, brought about assaults by Irish kings. Inis Cathaigh was part of the Norse Kingdom of Limerick, which protected now not best Limerick itself however additionally numerous different bases in western or even northern Ireland. Given its strategic area on the mouth of the Shannon estuary, it efficiently controlled all maritime visitors up the Shannon to Limerick. The Annals of Inishfallen file that in the 970s, Norse kings of Limerick had been resident at Scattery Island.