Quakers' Island (or Inisclothraun)

Quaker's Island

Photograph of Quaker's Island scanned from "History of the County Longford"

Quaker's Island

Photograph of Quaker's Island scanned from "History of the County Longford"

Enlarge image

Quakers Island, Lough Ree

Scanned photograph of Quakers Island, Lough Ree

Quakers Island, Lough Ree

Scanned photograph of Quakers Island, Lough Ree

Enlarge image

Inis Clothrann is approximately one mile in length and about eighty acres in extent. The historical significance of the island can be traced back to pagan times. It is supposed to have got its name from Clothra, Queen Maedhbh's sister. Furthermore, it is believed that the illustrious Queen Maedhbh met her death on the island when Furbuidhe, son of Conchubhar Mac Nessa slew her with a stone from a sling.

In the sixth century, Saint Dermod founded a monastery on the island. For this reason it was sometimes known as Inis Diarmuda. The monastery was plundered and burned and subsequently restored on a number of occasions down through the centuries.

Other names associated with the island include Inis na Seacht dTeampull (The Island of the Seven Churches). The ruins of three of these churches can be located on the island today. It was also known as Quaker's Island from a person of that religion who owned it over a century ago.

We learn from the Annals that Inis Clothrann was renowned as a site for learning and scholarship and also as a place of pilgrimage. In 1136, Aedh Ua Finn, Bishop of Breifne, died on the island. It is likely that he was visiting as a pilgrim. After 1244 there is no further mention of the island in the Annals but proof of the continued existence of the monastery down to the sixteenth century can be gleaned from the Annates and other Roman documents. The monastery was finally suppressed around 1541 by Henry VIII.