What is recorded here

St. Fechins Bed is a ritual site (holy or saint's stone) in Billa, County Sligo, Ireland. It is embedded in a low terrace beside the west end of the north side of St Fechin's church platform, where a prostrate limestone slab measures at least 2m east-west and 1.2m north-south beneath sod. Local tradition says the stone could cure backache when a patient lay flat with the spine aligned along its central fissure, which runs about 1m north-south, 0.25m east-west and 0.35m deep.

Embedded in a low terrace abutting the W end of the N side of the platform known as St Fechin's church (SL026-011001-). A prostrate limestone slab (min. dims. 2m E-W; 1.2m N-S) is largely covered by sod. Roughly in the centre of its flat upper surface is an elongated solution fissure (c. 1m N-S; 0.25m E-W; D 0.35m). According to local tradition, the stone could cure backache. The patient had to lie flat with the spine aligned along the central fissure. St Fechin's holy well (SL026-010----) is c. 200m to N and another saint's stone, St Fechin's Stone (SL026-012002-), is c. 400m to NE. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Date of upload: 18 January 2008

St. Fechin (or Féachín) was an early Irish Christian saint associated with the foundation of monastic sites in counties such as Tipperary and Laois. The slab at Billa may represent a physical remnant of a monastic complex linked to his tradition, though specific folklore or recorded cures connected to this site are not well documented.

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