Saint John's Point or St. John's Point () is a cape at the southern tip of the Lecale peninsula of County Down, Northern Ireland, separating Dundrum Bay from Killough Harbour, which forms its northern extremity. The cape is mostly surrounded by the Irish Sea and derives its name from a now ruined church dedicated to Saint John, being recorded here since at least 1170. A well-known beacon in the north-eastern Irish Sea, St. John's Point Lighthouse, built in 1844, sits near its southern tip and, at 40 m (130 ft), is the tallest lighthouse in Ireland (the Fastnet Lighthouse, though taller, is offshore).
Etymology
The area derives its name from the now ruined church of St. John the name of which is recorded in the Irish language as Tech Eoin (Mod. Ir. Teach Eoin or (Saint) John’s house) in c.1170.
Geography and status
The cape extends approximately 2 miles south of Killough into the Irish sea, separating Killough Harbour from Dundrum Bay, and is surrounded by water on three sides, and the rest of the larger Lecale peninsula to the north. It raises nowhere more than a few meters above sea level and is mostly given over to agriculture with the majority of the land used for grazing cattle or arable production of crops, including potatoes.
Several roads traverse the area, with the Rossglass Road (part of the A2) roughly forming its northern extent.
The area technically forming St. John's point encompasses all or substantial parts of four townlands – Ballycam, Rossglass (part), Kilbride, and St. John's point – as well as elements of others. The formal townland of St. John's point encompasses only 1,284,384 m² or 317.38 acres, and thus a minority of the larger "St. John's point" area, ranking as 793rd largest townland in County Down.
History
St. John's Point and the surrounding Lecale peninsula have been inhabited since pre-historic times, as attested to by the numerous Souterrains and other ancient remains in the area.
While the provenance of the church is not known, historians speculate that it is unlikely that the stone church which is known to have existed since at least the 1100s was the first on the site, and it would have been unusual that such a structure would have sat alone, without a monastic site or settlement in the area. In terms of affiliation, O’Laverty wrote that ‘in early times both the church of Rathmullan and the chapel of Saint John were appropriate to the order of St. John of Jerusalem’, suggesting that the church was a Knights Hospitaller institution at some point.
By the early modern period, St. John's point and the surrounding area was part of the Earldom of Ulster and under the control of the English of Ulster, and therefore not part of the lands further east subjected to the Jacobean Plantation of Ulster. Its church sees continued reference through historic sources as it (and its lands, income, and tithes) are transferred through various monarchical decrees and settlements – for example, Reeves records how as Stion it was annexed by the charter of James I to the Precentorship of Down, whilst at the dissolution of the monasteries, its tithes were (under the name 'St. Johnstown') were appropriated to the Preceptory of St. John in the Ards.
Writing in 1744 Harris stated:"The outer Bay of Dundrum is large and spacious, and formed by St. John's Point to the East, and the Point of Bealach-a-neir to the west, standing upwards of two Leagues asunder: both which Points are surrounded with Rocks. It is one of the most dangerous Bays for Shipping in the Kingdom, by reason of Sand-banks, which shift their stations almost in every stormThe area was subject to considerable improvement in the 18th and 19th centuries as local coastal trade grew, and the need to protect passing vessels against local hazards become more acute, the lighthouse and coastguard station being built in this period, and both not long after the improvement of the harbour at Killough.
The area received international intention for the first time when, in 1846 and during her second season of service and not long after embarking for New York, the then largest vessel afloat, Great Britain made a series of navigational errors that resulted in her being run hard aground in Dundrum Bay just down the coast from St. John's point on 22 September. There was no formal inquiry but her Captain, James Hoken, is reported to have mistook the new St John's light for the Calf light on the Isle of Man, leading the then largest ship in the world to beach on the shore just west of St. John's point on the Down coast.