The first settlers
The first people here were hunter-gatherers and fishermen of the Mesolithic period around 7000BC, always on the move, looking for their next meal. Sticking to the edge of the Lough, a seafood takeaway was never far away. Middens, piles of discarded oyster shells, mark the most popular feasting places.
As people became more settled and adopted a farming lifestyle in the Neolithic period (from around 4000 BC), they built sophisticated burial chambers, which are now the oldest surviving examples of human architecture around the Lough. Excavation at Audleystown uncovered one of the largest collections of human remains ever found in a prehistoric burial
The Celts
As farming evolved as a way of life, settlements grew up, and allegiances were forged - the ancient kingdom of Dal Fiatach had its royal centre at Downpatrick. It was part of the much bigger Ulaid kingdom whose fleet ruled the Irish Sea, even seeing off the Vikings at times
Christianity Arrives
Christianity came to Ireland with the arrival of St Patrick at Saul in 432AD, and in his wake, a cluster of great monasteries grew up and flourished around the Lough. The best preserved of these, Nendrum on Mahee Island, founded by Saint Mo-choí, still retains an aura of sanctity. With its triple enclosure walls, its church and round tower, Nendrum is probably the best surviving example of what an early Irish monastery looked like. A new chapter in the archaeology of Nendrum opened in 1999 with the discovery of the monastic tide mills on the nearby shore. With the absence of freshwater streams on the island, the monks turned to tidal power for their corn mill. The first mill has been dated to AD 619 and is at the moment the earliest known tide mill anywhere in the world.
Greyabbey bay was systematically ‘farmed’ as a foreshore fishery by the Cistercian monks of Greyabbey from the 13th to the 16th century and is criss-crossed by stone (and wooden) ‘V’ shaped fish traps which trapped fish as the tide ebbed out. Other features include a well preserved Neolithic logboat buried in the sand; and kelp grids from the thriving kelp industry of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Kelp (the soda ash produced from burning seaweed) was in great demand then for bleaching linen, and manufacturing glass and soap. The seaweed was dried and burned in stone kilns, and the fires from these would have been seen all around the Lough in summer. This was a profitable business, so to extend the growing zone; stones were laid in grids to promote the growth of the seaweed, which was harvested on a rotational basis.
The Vikings
The Vikings carried out short blitzkriegs in Strangford in the 9th and 10th centuries and established short-term settlement. Many interbred with the native Irish and settled here, setting up trade links with the homeland. Their longboats had a huge influence on boat design in Strangford, and their legacy lives on in the name Strangford, from the Norse Strangfyorthe, or ‘place of strong currents’.
Anglo-Normans and the tower houses
The kingdoms and monasteries dominated Strangford until John de Courcy and his 22 Norman knights along with their followers arrived to conquer Ulster in 1177.
The Anglo-Normans were great builders, throwing up quick ‘campaign’ castles (mottes - there are seven around the Lough), usually commanding the best views over the Lough. De Courcy and his wife Affreca also founded stone abbeys, such as at Inch and Greyabbey, which have survived well
Look around the Lough – particularly either side of the Narrows, and you can’t miss the profusion of square towers, known as tower-houses. These unusual fortified houses were built during the 15th and 16th centuries by local lords, occupying strategic locations around the Lough shore. Audley’s Castle commands an unrivalled view over the safe havens of Audleys Roads and Castle Ward Bay and Kilclief guards the entrance to the Lough
Industry
The plantation in the 17th century brought the great changes to the area, with massive economic exploitation of its natural resources, investment in the towns and ports, and the creation of the huge estates that would dominate life right into the early 20th century.
200 years ago, Portaferry was bustling with market houses, commerce and trade in potatoes, corn, linen, kelp and more. Many ships were built along the shore near Portaferry, and a thriving salvage business grew up in Ballyhenry Bay.
The ‘designed’ landscapes at Mountstewart and Castle Ward were imposed over the natural and social fabric of the terrain, with the gardens serving as a compliment to the equally impressive ‘big houses’ they surrounded.
For the early sailing ships entering the Narrows, the mouth of the Lough presented a great hazard: even if you made it past the swells and pools of the ‘bar’, there was still Angus Rock to fall foul of. No wonder it was called the Rockin’ Goose, after its first victim, the Eagle’s Wing, foundered there in 1715 with the loss of 76 lives. The wrecks visible from Ballyhenry Island tell this story.
A special ferry
A ferry has plied the Narrows from at least as early as 1180, but it was 1836 before the first paddle steamer, Lady of the Lake, began ferrying sizeable numbers across (30 trips a day). Three people were lost when a later ferry, ‘Lizzie’, tragically capsized off Strangford in 1913. A converted landing boat was used after World War II (it too capsized), and various small boats were then used until finally, in 1968, the local council, and later the DOE took over the service.