Treenode beg

Located 260m to SE of an ecclesiastical enclosure/cashel (SL001-001001-), over cliffs. This is a National Monument (no. 117) in state ownership. This ruined leach is traditionally known as Treenode Beg (Tríonóid Beg or ‘Small Trinity [Leacht]’). There is now only a low rubble mound – thickly covered by strongly rooted weeds – where Wakeman (1893, 141) described a leacht of ‘ twelve paces round; very rudely constructed, and of inconsiderable height’. Mountbatten (1972, 76) had more to say but in his own acerbic fashion: ‘Treenode Beg is ... a mixture between a large tumbled down altar and a very small walled enclosure, in fact there is really only a heap of stones with a stone Flag left’. Herity (1995, 114) gave dimensions and noticed the cross, describing ‘a low dry-built leacht, 2.36 m east/west by 2.25 m north/south ... on it stands a small sandstone slab.’ The cross-slab (SL001-014002-) was removed to the Schoolhouse/OPW conservation store in 1989. A few meters to E, another leacht (SL001-013003-), known as Treenode More, is located within an enclosure (SL001-013001-). The above description is derived from the results of a survey of the archaeological monuments on Inishmurray undertaken in 1997-1999 and published in: Jerry O’Sullivan and Tomás Ó Carragáin 2008 Inishmurrary. Monks and pilgrims in an Atlantic landscape. Volume 1: Archaeological Survey and Excavations 1997-2000. Cork. The Collins Press. Date of upload: 19 February 2018

Treenode Beg is associated with early Christian tradition on Inishmurray and is linked to the island's monastic history, possibly connected to Saint Columba's influence in the region. The site reflects longstanding sacred practices involving holy wells and pilgrimage in western Ireland.