Portloman Abbey — Portloman

Lomán of Lough Owel (Lough Uair) was the son of Oireannan and was associated with a church (WM012-167----) on Church Island (Inis Mor) and with a church at Portloman (Teach/Port Lomáin) also possibly known as Teach Mic Luim (Ó Riain 1992, 401-02). According to Ó Riain (1992, 402) Lomán's church stood on the ancient roadway known as the Slighe Asail. According to local tradition a sacred song of Colum Cille called the Amhra was sung on a route or station performed between the church and the cross (WM011-145003-) and the penitential station Leac Lomán (WM011-142----) located 800m to SW (ibid.). His feastday fell on the 7th of February or possibly on the 3rd of February (ibid.). The church ruins were described in 1876 as measuring 'seventy-seven feet [23.5m], by twenty feet four inches [6.2m]. A stone [WM011-145002-], deeply embedded in the clay, was disinterred some years ago. It was shaped like a coffin-lid, and it had a cross inscribed. Probably, it marked the grave of some ecclesiastic, in former times' (O'Hanlon 1875-1903, 384). Described in 1980 as 'The ruin of a long rectangular building aligned ESE-WNW. The building is 8m wide by at least 25m long. The SSW wall, part of the WNW wall and part of the NNE wall survive. The ESE wall is missing so the exact length cannot be determined. There is a rect.[angular] doorway of roughly shaped stones near the W end of the SSW wall. There is the remains of the northern end of a crossing wall which seemingly divided the building into a nave and chancel. There are no decorated stones visible. The east end of the NNE wall is a cross wall. This area is very ruined but there appears to have been a mural stair here and there is a small garderobe near the cross wall between the nave and chancel. The surviving walls are very ruined and rise at their highest to 2.5m. The church ruin is set within a subcircular enclosure bounded by a low scarp which is well preserved from SE through E through NW to SW and poorly preserved from SW through S to SE. Beyond the foot of the scarp is a low earth and stone bank which now forms the perimeter of the graveyard (WM011-145004-). There is a modern stone wall built against the outer face of this from NW through N to east. The churchyard contains some 18th and 19th century tombstones. There are no earthworks visible in the surrounding field' (SMR file). A bowl-barrow (WM011-144----) lies 230m to W and a cross (WM011-145003-) lies 6m W of the church. The church and graveyard are located on the W shoreline of Lough Owel. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 24 June 2010