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"The stones become doubly slippery and the whole slope acquires a slithery and greasy surface"

"The stone circles [of the Penitential Beds] are small. When this sanctuary was demolished in the seventeenth century the despoilers left only the rude foundation stones protruding from the soil..."

Alice Curtayne, outcrops, penitential beds, pilgrimage, pilgrims, rain, rocks, slippery, Station Island, stations, stones, twentieth century, weather

"The very strangeness of the whole rite is like an old memory overlaid by time"

"Many a pilgrim who goes to the Island for the first time remarks that the most surprising feature of the place is its obscure familiarity..."

Alice Curtayne, cultural memory, pilgrimage, pilgrims, repetition, Station Island, stations, timelessness, twentieth century

"There were boats at hand, and presence of mind, even among the onlookers, could have averted the tragedy"

"Ninety-three people were then crowded into an old and leaky boat, despite their protests. The fact that the boatmen were drunk made the passengers still more uneasy..."

1795 disaster, accusation, Alice Curtayne, drinking, drowning, Friars' Island, inaction, incompetence, malfeasance, onlookers, Oral History, panic, pilgrim crossing, Station Island, twentieth century

"Unconcernedly the Easter sunshine poured down on that scene of desertion and decay"

"The land [of Saints' Island] was cultivated at one time. The marks of the furrows were clearly to be seen at the early season of which I speak..."

agriculture, Alice Curtayne, building, decay, easter, fauna, flora, isolation, lichen, monastery, moss, overgrown, ruins, Saints Island, twentieth century, weeds

"You will find instead only stumps, bumps, and conquering armies of weeds, cruel in their strength"

"Do not visit Saints' Island with expectation of finding carved stones, a clear ground plan of ancient buildings, or examples of early Christian masonry..."

Alice Curtayne, bramble, cultural memory, cultural trauma, destruction of built heritage, disappointment, inaccessibility, isolation, John O'Donovan, lichen, monasticism, negative description, nostalgia, overgrown, ruins, sadness, twentieth century, weeds

An omen of disaster prior to the 1795 accident

"As a boat was being loaded with passengers at eleven o'clock, an elderly man arrived at the shore and urgently signalled to his son to come away with him..."

1795 disaster, Alice Curtayne, boating, disaster, dream, drowning, eighteenth century, Folklore, omen, Oral History, pilgrim, pilgrim crossing, pilgrimage, supernatural, survivor, twentieth century

Burials on Friars' Island, in Templecarne, and further away

"About twenty of the victims were buried on Friars' Island, where fir-trees on a mound show their grave to-day..."

1795 disaster, Alice Curtayne, burial, Connacht, drowning, Friars' Island, graveyard, mountains, pilgrim crossing, pilgrims, poverty, Station Island, Templecarne Graveyard, twentieth century

Lough Derg meets the sea

"[Lough Derg] and [the River Derg] empty themselves into the Mourne and finally mingle with the ocean at Magilligan…"

County Derry, County Donegal, County Tyrone, Derry, hydrology, Lieutenant W. Lancey, Magilligan, Northern Ireland, ordnance survey, River Derg, River Foyle, River Mourne, rivermouth, Royal Irish Academy, Templecarne, watershed

The 1795 disaster

"The end of the eighteenth-century history of Lough Derg is sadly remembered because of a particularly bad boating accident..."

1795 disaster, accusation, Alice Curtayne, boating, disaster, drinking, drowning, eighteenth century, Friars' Island, malfeasance, pilgrim, pilgrim crossing, poteen, Station Island, twentieth century

The bogs of Templecarn

"There is a vast extent of bog in Templecarn in which fir and other timber are found..."

blanket bog, bogland, ecosystem, environment, fir, landscape, Lieutenant W. Lancey, ordnance survey, Parish of Templecarne, quaking bog, Royal Irish Academy, Templecarne, water

The dimensions of Lough Derg

"The lakes [of the Parish of Templecarn] amount to 110, of which Lough Derg is the most extensive..."

The Franciscans

"The Franciscans took up the charge of St. Patrick's Purgatory when it was the most persecuted and derided institution of the Irish Church..."

Alice Curtayne, Catholicism, eighteenth century, Franciscans, neglect, penal times, pilgrimage, Protestant critique, purgatory, ruin, secret worship, seventeenth century, Station Island, suppression, twentieth century

The journey of five women returning to Ireland in 1922

"The adventure of a group of five women pilgrims [in 1922] were typical of the times."

1922, Alice Curtayne, Castlederg, civil war, County Fermanagh, County Tyrone, disruption, Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, Pettigo, pilgrimage, pilgrims, train, twentieth century, Victoria Bridge, women's history

The River Derg

"The river dividing the counties of Tyrone and Donegal on the north mearing of Templecarn receives the drainage of Lough Derg..."

County Donegal, County Tyrone, hydrology, lake, Lieutenant W. Lancey, Norther Ireland, ordnance survey, river, River Derg, Royal Irish Academy, Templecarne, water, watershed

"A landscape that is usually a monotonous monochrome of either brown or grey tints"

"There is a lake called Lough Derg in County Donegal which has acquired extraordinary fame both in Christian history and in general literature..."

Alice Curtayne, colour, description, emotion, Heather (Calluna vulgaris), isolation, landscape, mountains, Rome, rural landscape, twentieth century, vista

"An ominous cloud appeared in the north"

"Early in the ninth century, an ominous cloud appeared in the north, which was presently to overcast all such fair scenses as that presented by Saints' Island..."

Alice Curtayne, Annals of the Four Masters, Danes, destruction, destruction of built heritage, destruction of written heritage, looting, Lough Erne, monastery, monasticism, ninth century, records, ruins, Saints' Island, St. Dabheoc, twentieth century, Vikings

"Floating on some miracle raft"

"Down below [Dabheoc's Seat], Station Island rose up in imperial grandeur against its background of low hills..."

Alice Curtayne, Basilica, colour landscape, hills, illusion, Isle of Patmos, light vision, miracle, revelation, St. Dabheoc, St. Dabheoc's Seat, St. John, Station Island, twentieth century, vista

"He always looked for the most inaccessible place in every district"

"Think of [Saint Patrick] located somewhere near Templecarne for several months and thus surrounded. The lake would certainly invite him with its promise of refuge and sanctuary..."

Alice Curtayne, Catholicism, church, fifth century, hermitage, isolation, Parish of Templecarne, pilgrimage, purgatory, ruins, speculation, St. Patrick, Templecarne, Templecarne Graveyard, twentieth century

"High, bleak, purple mountains"

"But we have not yet reached the island. We are still on the landing-stage looking up the long reaches of the lake (it covers and area of twenty square miles), noting the high, bleak, purple mountains which surround it, and the number of pretty…

beauty, colour, emotion, isolation, lake, Margaret Gibbons, mountains, vista, water

"Lake of the Grouse"?

"The antiquary, John O'Donovan…dismissed the name, Loch Dearg, and corrected it to Loch Derc, meaning the Lake of the Cave..."

Alice Curtayne, birdlife, etymology, Fair Lake, grouse, John O'Donovan, Lake of the Cave, Lake of the Grouse, Red Lake, twentieth century

"No road, and not even a defined path, goes around the lake"

"Only one main road leads to the lake, that from the small town of Pettigo, four miles distant. This road ends at the ferry, where there is a house and a few other buildings..."

Alice Curtayne, barrenness, hills, isolation, loneliness, paths, rural landscape, twentieth century, underdevelopment

"Oh Fare Thee Well, Lough Derg"

"Oh fare thee well, Lough Dearg, Shall I ever see you more? My heart is filled with sorrow To leave thy sainted shore. Until life's days have passed away With pleasure shall I dwell On the happy days I spent with you Lough Dearg, fare…

farewell, Margaret Gibbons, pilgrim, pilgrimage, poem, song, Station Island, tradition

"One of the loneliest places on earth"

"[Lough Derg] is one of the loneliest places on earth. Its boulder-strewn shores, thirteen miles in circumference, seem to have retained all their original wildness..."

agriculture, Alice Curtayne, Birch (Betula spp.), forest, Heather (Calluna vulgaris), hills, isolation, larch, loneliness, negative description, reforestation, rural landscape, stones, trees, twentieth century, underdevelopment

"Rolling, tawny bogland framed the blue water"

"Turning back from [St. Dabheoc's Seat] to look down on Lough Derg, the aerial view of Station Island is exquisite..."

Alice Curtayne, birdlife, bogland, climate, colour, isolation, lake, larks, quaking bog, silence, St. Dabheoc's Seat, Station Island, twentieth century, view north, vista, weather, wind

"Suddenly the far-famed waters of Lough Derg appear close at hand"

"Suddenly the far-famed waters of Lough Derg appear close at hand..."

artificial land, Basilica, bedrock, building, costs, ferry, Margaret Gibbons, Station Island, vista, waiting rooms