Turkey or Greece. It was an important site of pilgrimage in the medieval period as evidenced by the prominence of the island on early maps. One such, Danti's map of 'Isole Britaniche', painted on the wall of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence (c. 1560) survives as a remarkable record. It was believed that 'taking' water from the well attributed to the saint could cure scurvy. Recent tests of the water show that it has high levels of vitamin C (the cure for scurvy), probably due to its position below a salt marsh. There are ruins of a church, dating to the 7th century, which is named for St Begnet. An older wooden church was probably here before the present stone one was built. Another church in nearby Dalkey also named for St Begnet may have been a 'base' for pilgrims before they crossed the sound to the island. 'Pilgrim badges' would have been sold in the town which would be eventually sewn into their burial shroud to prove that they had undertaken the pilgrimage, helping their journey through the gates of heaven. On the orders of Henry VIII as part of his dissolution of the monasteries, St Begnet's was raided in 1539. The ornaments and plate raised 36 shillings for the crown. In the early Christian period, the town of Dalkey was called Kilbegnet. The earliest reference to 'Dalkey Island' is to be found on a map printed for 'Barnard's New, Complete and Authentic History of England’ printed c1782'. This was about the time that the island was becoming a site of British military ordinance. There is also a reference to it on a copy of the Downs survey of about the same time. The church on the island was altered during this period on the east side, when builders used it as living quarters while building the nearby Martello tower and gun battery in 1804. . Extensive archaeological excavations took place in the late 1960s (Liversage) which uncovered evidence of a churchyard and a number of burials. The skeletons were not exclusively male, as has been suggested but they were in the majority in keeping with the fact that it was an early Christian Monastic site. A promontory fort designed to help protect what was the main deep water port for Dublin, now called Coliemore Harbour , in the medieval period. was located at the northern end of the