Spike Island, County Cork

Spike Island

Native name: Inis Pic
Gates of Fort Mitchel on Spike Island
Spike Island Spike Island in Ireland
Geography
Location	Cork Harbour
Coordinates	51°50′05″N 8°17′11″W / 51.8347°N 8.2864°W / 51.8347; -8.2864
Area	0.41 km2 (0.16 sq mi)
Length	0.8 km (0.5 mi)
Width	0.5 km (0.31 mi)
Administration
Ireland
County	County Cork

Spike Island (Irish: Inis Píc) is an island of 103 acres in Cork Harbour, Ireland. Originally the site of a monastic settlement, the island is dominated by an 18th-century star fort named Fort Mitchel. The island's strategic location within the harbour meant it was used at times for defence and as a prison. Since the early 21st century the island has been developed as a heritage tourist attraction, with €5.5m investment in exhibition and visitor spaces and accompanying tourism marketing. There were in excess of 10,000 visitors to the island during the month of August 2016.

The principal evidence for a monastic foundation on Spike Island comes from Archdall's Moanasticon Hibernicum, which states that Saint Mochuada founded a monastery there in the 7th century. While this may be correct, another passage from the "Life of St Mochuada" implies that Mochuada was associated with a place called "Rahen" (rather than Spike). A grant to Saint Thomas's Abbey in Dublin in 1178 of the Church of Saint Rusien on Spike Island may lend credence to a monastic settlement - as the name and date both indicate a Celtic foundation. The ruins of a church are reported to exist on Spike Island in 1774.

The grant to St Thomas's abbey in 1178 coincides with the surrender of lands, including Spike Island, by Diarmid McCarthy King of Desmond to the Normans. In 1182 one Raymond Mangunel was granted or "enfeoffed" Spike Island. There are no further recorded changes in ownership until 1427. In this year, records suggest that William, son of John Reych, granted to John Pyke, amongst other lands and premises, the lands of Innyspyge, in the Comte Cork. In 1490 Thomas Pyke granted to Maurice Ronan of Kinsale, his holdings in Spike Island. In the seventeenth century the island was in the possession of the Roche and Galwey families - until the rebellion of 1641 when these families forfeited possession of the island. Although this forfeiture was reversed on the accession of King Charles II of England in 1660, they did not regain possession. In 1698 the island was in the possession of Arnold Joost van Keppel 1st Earl of Albermarle who had accompanied William of Orange to England in 1688. In 1698 he conveyed the island to William Smith of Ballymore on the Great Island. In the 1770s, the island was in the hands of Nicholas Fitton. It would seem that the government leased part of the island for fortifications in the 1770s while the owner remained in residence - the house only being demolished during the construction of the present fort. Eventually the entire island was rented and there are a number of references in Parliamentary Papers to the payment of rent for the island extending into the 1870s.