Ollanmurray

Located on a low eroding cliff-edge, immediately to NE of Clashymore Harbour, on the S side of Inishmurray Island. This is a National Monument (no. 117) in state ownership. This leacht is traditionally known as Ollamurray (Ulaidh Mhuire or ‘Mary’s Altar [or Cairn]’). It is centrally located within a small stone-built enclosure (SL001-005001-). These monuments were subjected to severe ongoing erosion/storm damage; in 2000 they were fully excavated (00E0484), and then reconstructed in 2001 by the OPW at a safer distance from the cliff-edge (O’Sullivan and Ó Carragáin 2008, 298-313). Prior to excavation, the leacht appeared as a roughly square drystone structure, with the S side reduced by storm damage to a spread of random rubble (O’Sullivan and Ó Carragáin 2008, 170; 298). The excavation revealed the primary basal outline (c. 1.8m E−W; c. 1.4m N−S), which consisted of an outer facing of edge-set stones, which enclosed a core of close-set rounded beach cobbles and angular blocks (ibid, 304). This use of flat, edge-set stones is a notable construction feature of the leacht. The technique was also used in the construction of other Inishmurray leachts (e.g. SL001-001013-; SL001-004002-; SL001-007002-; SL001-013003-). The excavators conclude: ‘An inescapable inference is that all of these leachta were built to a common design, probably at the same time, and under supervision of one individual.’ (O’Sullivan and Ó Carragáin 2008, 313). A cross-slab (SL001-005003-) may once have stood on this leacht. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 19 February 2018

Ollanmurray is associated with Saint Olamh, a 6th-century Irish monk and hermit linked to Inishmurray Island. The site is traditionally believed to be his resting place, and such leacht (stone seats or altars) often mark locations of early Christian worship or pilgrimage.