The place is called Ooghleo, and it carries the name and memory of St Leo, a figure so devoted to solitude that, according to local tradition, he passed much of his life in meditation within or beside this narrow, dangerous cleft in the rock. It is the kind of place that accumulates sanctity quietly, without grandeur.

The name Ooghleo appears on the 1838 edition of the Ordnance Survey six-inch map and was retained on the 1898 resurvey, which suggests the association was considered worth preserving even by cartographers more concerned with topography than hagiography. The detail about St Leo's meditative habits comes from the Ordnance Survey Letters, a remarkable mid-nineteenth century project in which scholars travelled Ireland recording local knowledge, placename lore, and antiquarian detail for the surveyors. The relevant passage was published by O'Flanagan in 1927. Alongside the cave, a holy well dedicated to the saint sits on the eastern side of the inlet. Holy wells in Ireland were typically sites of pattern days and local veneration, drawing people who came to pray, to seek cures, or simply to maintain a thread of connection with a particular saint. Here, on a small island that was itself permanently evacuated in 1960, the well and the cave together form a quietly complete picture of early Christian retreat.

Inishshark lies just south-west of Inishbofin and is accessible only by boat. The island has no permanent population, and visits require some planning and attention to weather and tides. The inlet at Ooghleo is described as both steep-sided and dangerous, so the cave at its end is best appreciated from above or from a careful distance rather than by attempting any descent.