For thousands of years, the natural harbour of Strangford Lough, County Down provided a refuge for seafarers from the Irish Sea. This volume publishes the results of a survey of the maritime cultural landscape, challenging our preconceptions about the knowledge and skills of our ancestors.

Strangford Lough in County Down has been officially designated an Area of Outstanding Beauty. For thousands of years, however, its appeal was much more practical. Its vast natural harbour provided refuge for generations of seafarers seeking shelter from the notoriously dangerous Irish Sea and the fertility of its land and the richness of its wildlife proved a strong attraction for human settlement. The high quality of archaeology around the Logh has been recognized for many years. From 1995 to 2000 Northern Ireland's Environment and Heritage Service, conscious that the shore and seabed of the lough were hiding many more secrets, undertook a survey of the maritime cultural landscape. The results of the survey, published here, challenge our preconceptions about the knowledge and skills of our ancestors -excavations at Nendrum, for instance, revealed a seventh-century tidal corn-mill that demonstrated a previously unknown level of engineering sophistication. This illustrated volume seeks to present the survey results in a readily accessible form, adding to our appreciation of Strangford's past but also broadening the way we look at Ireland's history as a maritime region.