School: Scoil Dhalláin Forgaill (roll number 16963)

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1. The Island of Inniskeel with Its Ruined Churches and Sacred Wells (continued)

   

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   discovered that the head had become united once more with the body. St Conal had him buried in the monastery and we are told that his own body was afterwards buried in the same grave.

   There are two holy wells on the island locally known as Tobar Chonaill and Tobar Dhallain and these wells provide a starting-point for the turas which is so much patronized. Other features in this turas are the cairns of stones kept in position by the reverential practices of the pilgrims who in making the turas raise up a stone on the cairn for each time they go around it in performing their penitential practices.

   Local tradition states that the pilgrimage each year was a source of irritation and annoyance to the Protestant owner of the island on whose land the pious practices were performed, and wishing to stop the "abuse" he threw the cairns of stones into the sea. On the same occasion he battered to pieces with a sledge-hammer an oval-shaped stone which was used in the course of the practises for passing round the body, and flung the fragments into the sea but on the following morning the cairns were back in their places, and the stone which had been broken was restored to its

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
         1. the great famine (~4,013)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   John Boyle

   Gender

   Male

   Address

   Portnoo, Co. Donegal