The original Irish name of the island was Inis Dabhaill, "island of the Blackwater", so named because it lies opposite where the river Blackwater enters Lough Neagh.[8] In English it was called Enish Douel[8] and then Sidney's Island.[9] The current name comes from coney, meaning "rabbit".[8]
History
Coney Island has a rich history with long evidence of human occupation. This causeway was breached in the 19th century to allow the passage of barges from the Bann to the Blackwater.[2]
A native settlement flourished there in the later Middle Ages when there was also a small iron industry. Subsequently, the island was refortified with a bank, ditch and an external palisade.[2]
It also has a 16th-century stone tower.[10] The island was one of the O'Neill's major strongholds, but was delivered to Lord Deputy Sir Henry Sydney in 1567, and appears to have continued in use as a fort for a generation at least. At some later point the defences were thoroughly razed. In the 17th and 18th centuries the island was only sporadically occupied.[2]
In the 1890s, Coney Island was bought by James Caulfeild, 7th Viscount Charlemont (1830–1913), supposedly for £150. He lived in Drumcairne, just outside Stewartstown, and bought the island building a summer house in 1895.[11] In 1946, the island was given to the National Trust by Fred Storey.[1]
References
^ ab"Coney Island". Coney Island, Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland. Archived from the original on 23 July 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
^ abcdAddyman, P. V. (1965). "Coney Island, Lough Neagh: Prehistoric Settlement, Anglo-Norman Castle and Elizabethan Native Fortress: An Interim Report on Excavations in 1962 to 1964". Ulster Journal of Archaeology. 28: 78–101. JSTOR20627417.