St Ninian's Point is a flat tidal island located off the west coast of the Isle of Bute at the hamlet of Straad. It is about 600 metres from north to south and 250 metres from east to west. It is only cut off from Bute at high spring tides. It is separated from Bute by a beach of flat pebbles. There are two houses, a ruined chapel and the ruins of a smoke house on the island.
St Ninian's Chapel was excavated in 1952 and 1954 and an earlier pagan burial site of long cists was found underneath it. The sub-rectangular building, which had an altar at the east end, is surrounded by a large enclosure wall. The chapel was founded from Whithorn (St Ninian started his missionary work in Scotland there in 397AD) in the 6th or early 7th century and possibly abandoned in the 9th century when Norse people arrived. The ruins were repaired in 2009 by the Discover Bute Landscape Partnership Scheme.
The Smoke House (also known as the White House), was built on the island in the 19th century. It was originally built as a two-roomed fisherman's cottage, but may have been altered at some point, so it could be used for curing herring. It has a platform at one end, which may have been used to load carts. A small pier, now ruined, can be seen on the shore nearby.
When we visited in mid May 2022 we identified scurvy grass, lousewort, daisies, dandelions, bird's-foot trefoil, buttercup, cranesbill, celandine, silverweed, cuckoo flower, thrift and iris growing on St Ninian's Point.
