What is recorded here

One small stone cross stood on Illaunloughan, no taller than a person’s chest, its arms hollowed underneath as if made for carrying rather than staring at. It belonged to a place so thin and wet it may have vanished and returned with the tide, yet the cross remained solid enough to be measured, drawn and remembered. Perhaps it marked a shrine, a boundary or a promise kept between islands. In that case, even loss becomes a shape others can hold.

National Monument No. 10001. Illaunloughan/Oileán Lócháin (KE087-036017-) is a small, low-lying island located in Portmagee Channel, c. 120m from the mainland at S and c. 400m WNW of Portmagee (Port Mhic Aoidh) village. The island stands in the civil parish of Killemlagh (Cill Imleach), in the barony of Iveragh (Uíbh Ráthach). According to Marshall and Walsh (1998, 102) 'There is no historical documentation for the island, and the origin of its name is uncertain. Lochán may be the name of a saint associated with the island, a theory supported by the mention of two Lochans in the Martyrology of Oengus, written c. AD 800 (Stokes 1984, 255, 263) and by the inland location of Killoughane (Cill Lócháin) ecclesiastical site [KE065-058001-] at the eastern end of the Iveragh peninsula (O'Sullivan and Sheehan 1996, 357). Alternatively the island name may be derived from the island of the chaff. Four seasons of archaeological work, carried out from 1992 to 1995, have completed the excavation of about 70 per cent of the island. One of four portable crosses (KE087-036009/012-) described by the excavators as 'Pilgrim crosses' (Marshall and Walsh 2005, 201). This stone cross (L 0.44m; Wth 0.2m; T 0.07m) was on Illaunloughan in Portmagee Channel. The head is rounded and both arms have hollowed angles underneath. The shaft tapers towards the base (Marshall and Walsh 2005, 9, fig. 5c). See attached drawing of cross taken from Marshall and Walsh 2005, Fig. 5c. Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork. Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 30 March 2022

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