Church Island

Church Island rises from Lough Gill as the largest islet on the water, holding the ruined church and graveyard where St Lomán allegedly founded a retreat in the sixth century. Pregnant women once crowded Our Lady’s Bed, seeking protection or new life from a monument that may have begun as a medieval reliquary. The O’Rourke clan claimed the island as patrimony, while boats carried pilgrims and perhaps monks across the green distance. Even now the bed invites wonder more than proof, preserving the human hunger that built the church around it.