Protected sectors

What's the story here?

The small uninhabited Jackdaw Island is the western islet of the two easternmost islands on the southern shore of Strangford Lough. It lies a ¼ of a mile off the shoreline and is an almost square islet that is about 160 metres wide with a hummock at about its centre that rises to 10 metres. The shoreline dries out to the island and the surrounding shores of the island dry out to about 25 metres.

There is 2.4 metres LAT westward of the island where good holding will be found.

How to get in?

Details of the approaches, tidal timings, the run up The Narrows and onward to Killyleagh, on the Lough's western shore, are covered in the Entering and exiting Strangford Lough route description. Jackdaw Island is a little over a mile westward of Audley Point.

The Chapel & Jackdaw Islands Initial Fix places the vessel 300 metres north of Chapel Island where both islands will be visible and it is a simple matter of passing around Jackdaw Island.




Anchor according to draft and conditions over sand and shale with good holding.

Why visit here?

Unlike Chapel Island, Jackdaw Island has never been farmed and appears not to have been inhabited. But the location history of human inhabitation runs very deep here as one field in from the tidal mudflats around Jackdaw Island is the important Neolithic Audleystown Court Tomb.




Situated in a slight hollow overlooking the island the well-preserved tomb was built during the period 3900–3500 BCE. The cairn is orientated northeast-southwest, with the wider end facing southwest, and it has a double courtyard-double burial chamber layout which is unique to Ireland. Today it is faced with a drystone wall of standing shale stones, which in their time would have been covered by shale and earth. The court tomb was used for the burial of at least thirty men, women and children, along with bones of cattle, horses, sheep and pigs in two opposing galleries. There were also finds of pottery, a large javelin head, and scrapers and knives. Two of the bowls had lugs like vessels found in tombs in Scotland. Fingertip fluting on three bowls makes them similar to bowls found in Scotland and the Isle of Man. Its location on the shores of the Lough, directly overlooking Jackdaw Island and the estuary of the River Quoile suggests that some people saw themselves as being connected to the waters of particular sheltered bays and inlets. It is also historically interesting for being the site where the earliest known horse bones were found in Ireland.




Nearby in a sub-denomination of the townland of Audleystown, called Tubberdoney, is the site of an early possible 5th-century Christian church called Temple Cormick - Cormac's Church. All that remains is a small ruined, dry-stone church of simple rectangular plan with a surrounding enclosure that marks the boundary of an ancient cemetery. Unfortunately, its history is lost save that Cormac was a particular friend of St Patrick who arrived here to bring Christianity to Ireland. Toberdoney, meaning Donard's Walls, possibly refers to another early Christian site that may have existed in this area and was dedicated to St Domangart or Donard.




Today there is little activity save for birdlife on Jackdaw Island's tussock grass which is perhaps how it acquired its name. It is possible to land and go for a walk on Jackdaw, or indeed Chapel Island, from here. But please note that Jackdaw is an important nesting site for Sandwich Terns in the spring and should be avoided at that time. On the other hand, on a quiet day, tucked away from it all behind uninhabited Jackdaw Island, it is easy to immerse oneself in a peaceful location. Very little has changed at this location since Megalithic times and it is easy to cast the mind back even a thousand years to when Viking boats passed through close north of here. Most notably in 1002, and subsequently again in 1149, the sleek longboats came cutting through the Lough's peaceful waters, sharp-eyed crews tense with the anticipation of imminent battle and monastic plunder; bent on Quoile Abbey.




From a boating point of view today, it is a snug anchorage where a boat can take in views across the island-dotted Lough to the west or over the mistily distant Mourne Mountains to the south. It is a favourite location to watch the clubs of the Lough race as the much-used racing mark No.11 (Jackdaw) is located nearby and, with the sun behind, it is the perfect place to watch the action.

What facilities are available?

There are no facilities on Chapel and Jackdaw Islands or in the surrounding area.

Any security concerns?

Never a problem known to have occurred around the isolated Chapel and Jackdaw Islands.

With thanks to:

Brian Crawford, local Strangford Lough boatman of many decades. eOceanic would like to thank Quoile Yacht Club for hosting our survey boat during the survey of Strangford Lough.