Islands of Ireland: Monastery, fortress, prison, tourist destination... the many lives of Spike Island

Spike Island has been host to a 7th century monastery, a 24-acre fortress, the largest convict depot in the world in Victorian times, and centuries of island homes

In the last 1,300 years Spike Island's rich history has included monks and monasteries, rioters and redcoats, captains and convicts and sinners and saints. Picture: Skytec & Spike Island Development Company

This is an island that has had more disguises than Sherlock Holmes and more mysteries than the fictional creation of Arthur Conan Doyle could ever have solved.

Its first major use came in the 7th century when St Mochuda (Carthage) set up a monastery in 635. The island’s official website provides a fascinating glimpse as to the significance of the monastery: “It is believed a very important ecclesiastical document called the ‘Liber de ordine creaturarum’ was written on the island. It has been described as “a work of magnificent conception … intertwining spacial and temporal dimensions, it is a bold attempt at describing God’s grand plan for the universe he created…”.