Church Island

Church Island rises from Lough Gill as the largest islet on the water, holding the ruined church and graveyard where pregnant women once crowded Our Lady’s Bed for protection or conception. The place belongs to St Lomán and the Uí Ruairc, yet its contradictions keep returning: Patrick’s nephew, Brigid’s cousin, Columkille’s companion, Culdee keeper, nun’s retreat, pilgrim magnet. That is not confusion. It is a border church, absorbing every lineage that needed a mother, a relic or a way across the water.