27/04/2026
Community Historian, Brendan Matthews. “Inis na Righ”. Photo by Brendan Matthews captured in September 2020 taken from on top of Ben Head at Irishtown, looking northwards into Inis na Rígh (The Hidden Isle of the Kings). As the great Nanny River flows eastwards to the Irish Sea at Laytown, a strange phenomenon occurs on the river between Gaffney and Beaumond. Anyone travelling on the Julianstown to Duleek road, via Cooperhill Cross roads and Kilsharvan, may notice a couple of small islands in the middle of the River Nanny between the townlands of Beaumond and Gaffney. The reason for this is that; further up in the hills of Bellewstown the River Bradden begins its life-source from a small Spring on the northern slopes of the hill. The Bradden then splits into two different streams with one flowing eastward through the townlands of Ratholland, Lisdornan and Moorechurch before it enters the Irish Sea at Mosney. However, the second section of the Bradden stream flows directly northwards, down the slopes of Hilltown and enters the Nanny River at Gaffney, thus creating two rivers which run either side of the tiny Islands within the River Nanny between the said Gaffney and Beaumond Bridge, before they join together as one river, flowing eastwards through Kilsharvan, Dardistown, Sandyhall, Julianstown and the Ninch, before it enters the Irish Sea at Laytown. The coastal area between the Nanny Estuary and the Bradden Estuary at Mosney was known in ancient Ireland and is recorded in the Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland as “Inis na Righ”; translating as the `Hidden Isle of the Kings`, an area bounded by the two rivers which had been formed back in the area of Bellewstown hill and Gaffney and bounded on the east by the Irish Sea thus creating an `Inland Island`. This, `Hidden Isle` was a particularly special place of significance in Pre-Christian Ireland; a Sacred Place as worshipped by the very knowledgeable and highly respected Druids and Chieftains . This place-name of Inis na Rígh continued to be a place of significance well into the Christian period. It is one of the reasons why the Well of St. Patrick, situated beneath the present railway line and close to the strand at Mosney, was located on the Ben Head or Gormanston side of the Bradden River; hence the Christian Well was not within the boundaries of the older Pagan Inis na Rígh! An entry, contained within the pages of the great Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, dating to the year 779 records that: `A Royal Meeting between Donnchadh, son of Domhnall and Fiachna, son of Aedh Roin, took place at Inis na Rígh in the east of Breagh`. The kin or extended family who were resident in this part of the eastern seaboard back in this early Christian period of the later 8th century was named the Ciannachta Breagh and there are several references to them within the old Annals of Ireland including a battle with the Norsemen at Inbher Ainge, which was the Estuary of the Nanny River, that took place in the mid. 9th century. Researched & written by Community Historian Brendan Matthews. © 2020
