Leacht, Inis Gé Theas, Co. Mayo
Co. Mayo |
Holy Sites & Wells
On the south-eastern side of Inishkea South, a low mound sits roughly 60 metres from a small bay called Porteennadooey.
It is barely knee-height at its tallest point, a gentle subcircular rise measuring about eight metres north to south and seven metres east to west, its sod-covered surface broken here and there by protruding stones. Without the name recorded for it on a 1921 Ordnance Survey map, it would be easy to walk past entirely.
That map names the feature 'Laghta Wirraid', an anglicisation of Leacht Mhuire, meaning the leacht of Mary. A leacht is a cairn-like devotional monument, typically a low pile of stones used as a focus for prayer or pilgrimage, often associated with a saint or a sacred site. The Marian dedication hints at a tradition of religious practice on this spot, though nothing is shown here on the earlier 1838 six-inch Ordnance Survey map, leaving the monument's origins genuinely uncertain. What is visible now includes a partly collapsed L-shaped drystone wall overlying the southern edge of the mound, a roughly built structure that clearly post-dates whatever lies beneath it. The surrounding ground is crossed by relict cultivation ridges running roughly north to south, the remains of a farming landscape that once shaped this now largely quiet island.
The mound lies just eight metres south of a grassed-over road that runs east to west across the island, which provides the clearest way to orient yourself when approaching. The monument is subtle enough that the slight rise in the ground and the occasional stone breaking the turf are the main things to look for.