Boa Island

County Fermanagh

St Constans (777) may have lived here as a hermit. No one quite knows what the two unusual carved stones may be or why they are (still) here in a Christian graveyard. One is a double-sided figure carved back to back, male and female. The other figure, from neighbouring Lusty More Island, is blind in one eye. The female figure and this last figure both have protruding tongues. Are they pagan gods? Yet they are generally dated to no earlier than the 8C. They could be pre-Christian idols (like one now kept in the aisle of the Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh.) which were never destroyed. Or, we have to say, as with some unusual Christian stone carvings on nearby White Island, all we can let them do is to tease us.

OS: 17 085 620 marked