What is recorded here

Illaunloughan is a small, low-lying island in Portmagee Channel where pilgrims once carried a broken cross with one arm and a rounded shaft. The stone survived the chaos of conservation works, emerging unstratified from the earth like a memory refusing to fade. It belongs to Lochan, perhaps a saint, perhaps merely chaff, linking the isolated isle to the ancient heart of Iveragh.

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 0.4m; Wth 0.26m; T 0.04m) listed by Marshall and Walsh as Cross 4 was on Illaunloughan. It displays a rectangular shaft and one arm with rounded angles. Part of the rounded head and of the other arm are missing (Marshall and Walsh 2005, 9, fig. 5d). According to Marshall and Walsh (ibid., 225, f.n. 8), this and the other three crosses were recovered from unstratified contexts during conservation works. See attached drawing of cross taken from Marshall and Walsh 2005, Fig. 5d. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry. Volume I: South-West Kerry' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 30 March 2022

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