St Patrick's Isle

There are no visible prehistoric remains on St Patrick's Isle, but archaeological excavations found a shallow hollow, in which flint tools had been manufactured. These tools have been dated to the Mesolithic period, when such hollows were commonly dug to provide shelters in which to work, process food, eat and sleep. The variety of flint tools discovered suggests the islet was seasonally used around 8000 years ago. St Patrick's Isle continued to be used into the Neolithic period, as worked flints, stone tools and some pottery characteristic of this time have also been discovered.

Evidence of more permanent occupation from the Bronze Age onwards has been revealed in the form of post hole foundations for a series of roundhouses. Their sheltered location on the east side of the islet and apparently continuous occupation into the late Iron Age suggests that the site was both attractive and significant. Its apparent security resulted in the construction of a large roundhouse about 8.5-9m in diameter which served as a granary and would have been controlled by the local elite. A substantial deposit of charred timber and grain however showed that the building, which had stored large quantities of spelt wheat and smaller amounts of emmer wheat and barley, had been completely destroyed by fire just over 2,200 years ago.