What is recorded here

Ilanee is a drowned stone fort on Garrison Island in Lough Cullen, built before the Norman invasion and now half-submerged beneath the lake. Its walls still rise in places, blocking light and bending sound, while the collapsed rooms suggest people lived there when the water was lower. The fort does not explain itself; it waits for the lake to retreat and reveal what it swallowed.

This enclosure is situated at the SW end of Illanee or Garrison Island, in Lough Cullen c. 250m from its W shore. It consists of an impressive cashel-like monument (26m N-S; c. 24m E-W internally) built with stones bonded in mortar. Much of the mortar has eroded resulting in significant collapse of the enclosing walls in places. A possible two-roomed house is located in the NE quadrant of the enclosure and a small D-shaped hut abuts its SE gable. An entrance at the NW opens onto a rectangular berth for the mooring of boats: this now stands on dry land as the lake level was lowered in 1965. The monument has been identified by Naessens and O’Conor as a possible pre-Norman fortification dating to the eleventh- / twelfth century (2012, 119-121). Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 18 April 2017

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.