Inchagoill is an island in

Lough Corrib Lough Corrib ( ; ) is a lake in the west of Ireland. The River Corrib or Galway River connects the lake to the sea at Galway. It is the largest lake within the Republic of Ireland and the second largest on the island of Ireland (after Lough Nea ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Its Christian ruins constitute an Irish National Monument. The island name means "Island of the devout foreigner."

Location

Inchagoill is an island of located in the northwest part of Lough Corrib. It lies halfway between

Oughterard Oughterard () is a small town on the banks of the Owenriff River close to the western shore of Lough Corrib in Connemara, County Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located about northwest of Galway on the N59 road (Ireland), N59 road. ...

and Cong. Burr Island () lies immediately to the north.

Ruins and monuments

St. Patrick's Church

Graveyard and ruined chapel on Inchagoill - geograph

Also called Templepatrick (''Teampall Phádraig''), its construction was traditionally attributed to

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

and his nephew Lugnad, who is credited with bringing him to Ireland by boat; it is more likely to date to the 6th or 7th century AD.

Lugnad's stone

This stone, of

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

grit Grit, Grits, or Gritty may refer to: Food * Grit (grain), bran, chaff, mill-dust or coarse oatmeal * Grits, a corn-based food common in the Southern United States Minerals * Grit, winter pavement-treatment minerals deployed in grit bins * G ...

and shaped like a

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

, bears the inscription ''Lia Lugnaedon Macc Limenueh'' ("Stone of Lugnad son of Limenueh", the latter being Patrick's sister Liamain; there are many variant readings). It is the oldest inscription in Ireland in the

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

(all earlier inscriptions are in

Ogham Ogham (also ogam and ogom, , Modern Irish: ; , later ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish language ( scholastic ...

). The pillar is known as 'Lugnaedon Pillar', a piece of Silurian grit stone, about two feet high with an incised cross on the north side, and two such crosses on each of the other sides. The stone bears an inscription "Lie Lugnaedon Macc Li Menueh", translated, it means "The stone of Lugnaedon, son of Limenueh", the sister of St. Patrick. The pillar dates back to the 6th century. This pillar is the remains of a pre-Christian era Ogham stone, and was sanctified with crosses after it was purged of its pagan inscription, by the founder of the church.

Templenaneeve

In Irish ''Teampall na Naoimh'', "church of the saints." A flagged path of in length connects the two churches. Templenaneeve is Hiberno-Romanesque church with a 12th-century decorated arched doorway; its sculpted heads are similar to those at Annaghdown Abbey. The incised slab is 8th century, and there are three bullauns as well. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

is semi-circular and undecorated.

Graveyard

The graveyard is also ancient; buried there is Muirgheas O'Nioc (Muirgius ua Nioc; died 1128),

coarb A coarb, from the Old Irish ''comarbae'' (Modern Irish: , ), meaning "heir" or "successor", was a distinctive office of the medieval Celtic Church among the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland. In this period coarb appears interchangeable with " erenac ...

Tuam Tuam (; , meaning 'mound' or 'burial-place') is a town in Ireland and the second-largest settlement in County Galway. It is west of the midland Region, Ireland, midlands of Ireland, about north of Galway city. The town is in a civil parishe ...

. (He is often incorrectly described as

Archbishop of Tuam The Archbishop of Tuam ( ; ) is an Episcopal polity, archbishop which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Cathol ...

, but that title didn't exist until 1152.) Other important families in the region also used the graveyard: Kinnaveys, Conways, Sullivans, Murphys, Lyddans, Butlers.

Other sites

A holy well (Tobernaneeve), two cross-inscribed pillars and five cross slabs.

Today

An annual

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

is celebrated on the island, and local cruise companies offer tourist expeditions to the island.

Coillte Coillte (; ; meaning /) is a state-owned commercial forestry business in Ireland based in Newtownmountkennedy. Coillte manage approximately 7% of the country’s land, and operates three businesses - their core forestry business, a 'land solut ...

have extensively afforested the island.

References

{{Reflist Religion in County Galway Archaeological sites in County Galway National monuments in County Galway Islands of County Galway Lake islands of Ireland