Boa Island
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Boa Island () is an island near the north shore of Lower
Lough Erne Lough Erne ( , ) is the name of two connected lakes in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is the second-biggest lake system in Northern Ireland and Ulster, and the fourth biggest in Ireland. The lakes are widened sections of the River E ...
in
County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of and had a population of 63,585 as of 2021. Enniskillen is the ...
, Northern Ireland. It is from
Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...
town. It is the largest island in Lough Erne, approximately long, and relatively narrow. The
A47 road The A47 is a major trunk road in England linking Birmingham to Lowestoft, Suffolk, maintained and operated by National Highways. Most of the section between Birmingham and Nuneaton is now classified as the B4114 road, B4114. From Peterborough ...
goes through the length of the island and joins each end of the island to the mainland by bridges leading west toward Castle Caldwell and east toward Kesh. Boa Island features a
counterscarp A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a ditch or moat used in fortifications. Attackers (if they have not bridged the ditch) must descend the counterscarp and ascend the scarp. In permanent fortifications, the ...
rath (grid ref: H0744 6250) as well as carved stones, graveyard and enclosure (grid ref: H0852 6197), all in Dreenan
townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...
and all Scheduled Historic Monuments. The Lustymore stone figure was moved here in 1939 from the nearby island of the same name. The oldest stone monument on the island is a denuded
cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
at Inishkeeragh Bridge near the southern tip of the island.


Stone figures

The Caldragh graveyard on Boa Island contains two
anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...
carved
stone statues A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size. A sculpture ...
known as the Dreenan figure and the Lustymore figure. The graveyard dates from the Irish
early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...
period (400–800 AD). Both figures were badly damaged when they were first found. They have been placed beside each other on unrelated pillars in the graveyard, which is the original location of the Boa figure. A canopy was placed over them to protect them from the weather, however this has since been removed. Both of the stone figures are generally accepted to be the likeness of
pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
deities. The Janus (two headed) figure is the Boa largest of the Boa sculptures, and is regarded as one of Ireland's most enigmatic and remarkable stone figures.Boa Island
. ''Tuatha'', 8 June 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2025
It is thought to represent a Celtic deity and could represent a Celtic goddess as readily as a god, especially given the name of the island. In Celtic mythology, heads were given great importance as they were thought to contain a person's spirit, and severed heads were sometimes taken in triumph after battles. The Boa Island bilateral figure is high, wide on its two broader surfaces, and wide on its two narrow surfaces. Each side of the figure has a face and torso. On the sides of the stone where the two carved figures are joined, is an interlace design that may represent hair. The faces are large and ovals, with big eyes, straight noses, and half-open mouths with protruding tongues above pointed chins. The figure has no neck, with its head resting directly on its torso. The torso is a square block with hunched shoulders, crossed arms, and a belt. The figure ends just below its waist. The lower section of the figure—two hands with elongated fingers carved in relief—was broken away from the top part at an unknown time in the past. This base was recently discovered half-buried in the ground close to the figure. A deep indentation of unknown purpose is carved at the top of the bilateral figure; tourists often place small mementoes in it for good luck. Fears of damage from freeze-thaw erosion have motivated authorities to provide a canopy over the statue. The
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
winning poet
Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...
celebrated the enigmatic Boa Island bilateral figure's similarity to the Roman deity Janus in his poem "January God". The Enniskillen-born poet Francis Harvey published a collection of poems called ''The Boa Island Janus'' in 1996. Similar statues appear outside the cave of
Crom Cruach Crom Cruach ( ) was a pagan god of pre-Christian Ireland. According to Christian writers, he was propitiated with human sacrifice and his worship was ended by Saint Patrick. He is also referred to as ''Crom Cróich'', ''Cenn Cruach''/''Cróic ...
in ''
The Secret of Kells ''The Secret of Kells'' is a 2009 animated fantasy drama film directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, produced by Paul Young, Didier Brunner and Viviane Vanfleteren, written by Fabrice Ziolkowski. An Irish-French-Belgian co-production, led b ...
''. The Lustymore Idol was discovered in an early Christian graveyard on
Lustymore Island Lustymore Island () is an island located in Lower Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Nearby is Boa Island whose Caldragh cemetery has a carved Janus-type figure. A second figure was brought to Caldragh in 1939 from Lustymore Island ...
, located due south of Boa Island in Lower Lough Erne. It was brought to the Caldragh graveyard on Boa Island in 1939. It is placed with its back to the indigenous bilateral figure. Lacking details of the facial features, it is less impressive visually, and is approximately in height. It is, however, thought to be older than the bilateral 'Janus' figure – which is less worn than the Lustymore figure. Irish archaeologist Eileen Murphy states in ''Warrior Women'' (2002) that the Lustymore Idol is thought by some Irish scholars to be the precursor to
Sheela na gig A sheela na gig is a figurative carving of a naked woman displaying an exaggerated Human vulva, vulva. These carvings, from the Middle Ages, are Grotesque (architecture), architectural grotesques found throughout most of Europe on Architecture ...
s: her arms lie across the torso and point toward the inverted V that represents the top of the vulva (page 204). A Sheela-na-gig is a female figure with enlarged genitals held open by her hands. Note the current offerings to the statue in the photograph above. The reasons for creating these stone sculptures and the dates of their creation are not certain. They may have been part of pre-Christian religious sites, or they may have been made by early Christians who included older
pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
beliefs in their grave sites. The bilateral Dreenan figure is often compared to the two-faced
Holzgerlingen figure The Holzgerlingen figure is a two-faced anthropomorphic statue of the early to middle La Tène culture. The statue depicts a human figure from the belt up, each side carved with a mirror image of the other, wearing a horn-like headdress which is p ...
, Germany and the
Tandragee Idol The Tandragee Idol is the name given to a carved sandstone figure dated to the Iron Age, with some sources suggesting a date as early as 1,000 BC. The sculpture was found in the 19th century in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is in height ...
in St. Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh. These comparisons suggest that the figure date to the Iron Age. However early Christian sites around Lough Erne are rich in these types of figures. An example is the White Island collection of figures found south-east of Boa Island, which are primitive looking, but date from the early Christian period.Herity (1996), p. 253


Plane crash

On 9 January 1944, a
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
Consolidated PBY Catalina The Consolidated Model 28, more commonly known as the PBY Catalina (U.S. Navy designation), is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft designed by Consolidated Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s. In U.S. Army service, it was designated as the OA- ...
(FP193)
flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...
departed
RAF Killadeas Royal Air Force Killadeas, or more simply RAF Killadeas, is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located southwest of Irvinestown, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland and northwest of Enniskillen, County Fer ...
on a bombing exercise. The aircraft crashed into the lough near the island after the crew lost control during a turn. Seven of the ten crewmen died in the crash.


References


Sources

* Eogan, George; Herity, Michael. ''Ireland in Prehistory''. London: Routledge, 2013. * Lowry-Corry, Dorothy. "The Stones Carved with Human Effigies on Boa Island and on Lustymore Island, in Lower Lough Erne". ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature'', volume 41, 1932. * Ó Hogain, Dáithí. "Patronage & Devotion in Ancient Irish Religion". ''History Ireland'', volume 8, no. 4, winter 2000. * Rynne, Etienn. "Celtic Stone Idols in Ireland". In: Thomas, Charles.
The Iron Age in the Irish Sea province: papers given at a C.B.A. conference held at Cardiff, January 3 to 5, 1969
'. London:
Council for British Archaeology The Council for British Archaeology (CBA) is an educational charity established in 1944 in the UK. It works to involve people in archaeology and to promote the appreciation and care of the historic environment for the benefit of present and fut ...
, 1972 * Waddell, John. ''The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland''. Galway: Galway University Press, 1998. * Warner, Richard.
Two pagan idols – remarkable new discoveries
. ''Archaeology Ireland'', volume 17, no. 1, 2003


External links



* ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/landscapes/explore.shtml Landscapes Unlocked– Aerial footage from the BBC ''Sky High'' series explaining the physical, social, and economic geography of Northern Ireland
Google Earth view
{{Coord, 54, 31, N, 7, 50, W, region:GB_type:isle, display=title Archaeological sites in County Fermanagh Aviation accidents and incidents locations in Northern Ireland Celtic stone idols Islands of County Fermanagh Lake islands of Northern Ireland Scheduled monuments in Northern Ireland Townlands of County Fermanagh