View source for Boa Island

{{Short description|Island in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
[[File:BoaIslandShore.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Boa Island, overlooking Lower Lough Erne]]
[[File:LustymanBoaIsland.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The Dreenan figure, Boa Island]]
'''Boa Island''' ({{Irish derived place name|[[Badb|Badhbha]]}})<ref>[http://www.logainm.ie/130609.aspx Placenames Database of Ireland]</ref><ref name=Vance>{{cite book | last = Vance | first = Rob | title = Secret Sights: Unknown Celtic Ireland | publisher = Gill & Macmillan | date = 2003 | pages = 53–54 | isbn = 0-7171-3664-7 }}</ref> is an island near the north shore of Lower [[Lough Erne]] in [[County Fermanagh]], Northern Ireland.<ref name=Queens>{{cite web |url=http://www.chrono.qub.ac.uk/local/fermanagh/Boa/ |title=Boa Island – Carved figures – Lower Lough Erne |access-date=24 November 2007 |last=The Chrono Centre, Queen's University Belfast |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718135352/http://www.chrono.qub.ac.uk/local/fermanagh/Boa/ |archive-date=18 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is {{cvt|16|miles}} from [[Enniskillen]] town.<ref name=Halpin>{{cite book | last = Halpin | first = Andy |author2=Conor Newman | title = Ireland: An Oxford Archaeological Guide to Sites from Earliest Times to AD 1600 | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2006 | isbn = 0-19-288057-8 | page = 157 }}</ref> It is the largest island in Lough Erne,<ref name=Bord>{{cite book | last = Bord Fáilte | author-link = Fáilte Ireland | title = Bord Fáilte Ireland Guide | publisher = Gill & Macmillan | date = 2000 | isbn = 0-7171-2887-3 | page = 398 }}</ref> approximately {{cvt|5|miles}} long,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fermanaghlakelands.com/Portals/3/downloads/Find%20Fermanagh.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517104304/http://www.fermanaghlakelands.com/Portals/3/downloads/Find%20Fermanagh.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 May 2011 |title=Find Fermanagh |last=FermanaghLakelands.com |access-date=24 November 2007 }}</ref> and relatively narrow. The [[A47 road (Northern Ireland)|A47 road]] goes through the length of the island and joins each end of the island to the mainland by bridges leading west toward Castle Caldwell and east toward [[Kesh (Fermanagh)|Kesh]].<ref name=Culture>{{cite web|url=http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/YourArea.aspx?location=542 |title=Boa |access-date=6 October 2010 |publisher=[[Culture Northern Ireland]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609021723/http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/YourArea.aspx?location=542 |archive-date=9 June 2008 }}</ref>

Boa Island features a [[counterscarp]] [[ringfort|rath]] (grid ref: H0744 6250) as well as carved stones, graveyard and enclosure (grid ref: H0852 6197), all in Dreenan [[townland]] and all Scheduled Historic Monuments.<ref>{{cite web|title=Scheduled Historic Monuments (to 15 October 2012) |work=NI Environment Agency |url=http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/the_schedule_of_historic_monuments_-_october_2012-2.pdf |access-date=29 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026155955/http://www.doeni.gov.uk/niea/the_schedule_of_historic_monuments_-_october_2012-2.pdf |archive-date=26 October 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref>

The [[Lustymore Island|Lustymore]] stone figure was moved here in 1939 from the nearby island of the same name. The oldest stone monument on the island is a denuded [[cairn]] at Inishkeeragh Bridge near the southern tip of the island.<ref name=Halpin/>

==Stone figures==
[[File:JanusandLustymoreFigures.jpg|thumb|left|The Janus Boa Island figure and, in the foreground, the similar "Lustymore figure" (which was moved to Boa in 1939)]]
The Caldragh graveyard on Boa Island contains two [[anthropomorphic]] carved [[Celtic stone idols|stone statues]] known as the Dreenan figure and the Lustymore figure.<ref name=Halpin/> The graveyard dates from the Irish [[History of Ireland#Early Christian Ireland (400–800)|early Christian]] period (400–800 AD).<ref name=Queens/> Both figures were badly damaged when they were first found. They have been placed beside each other on unrelated pillars in the graveyard, which is the original location of the Boa figure.<ref name=Kelly>{{cite book|last=O'Kelly|first=Michael J.|title=Early Ireland: An Introduction to Irish Prehistory|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=1989|isbn=0-521-33687-2|page=292}}</ref> A canopy was placed over them to protect them from the weather, however this has since been removed. Both of the stone figures are generally accepted to be the likeness of [[Paganism|pagan]] deities.<ref name=Queens/>

The Janus (two headed) figure is the Boa largest of the Boa sculptures, and is regarded as one of Ireland's most enigmatic and remarkable stone figures.<ref name=Halpin/><ref name="tu">"[https://www.tuatha.ie/boa-island/ Boa Island]". ''Tuatha'', 8 June 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2025</ref> It is thought to represent a Celtic deity and could represent a Celtic goddess as readily as a god, especially given the name of the island. In Celtic mythology, heads were given great importance as they were thought to contain a person's spirit, and severed heads were sometimes taken in triumph after battles.<ref name=Queens/>

The Boa Island bilateral figure is {{cvt|73|cm}} high, {{cvt|45|cm}} wide on its two broader surfaces, and {{cvt|30|cm}} wide on its two narrow surfaces.<ref name=Kelly/> Each side of the figure has a face and torso. On the sides of the stone where the two carved figures are joined, is an interlace design that may represent hair. The faces are large and ovals, with big eyes, straight noses, and half-open mouths with protruding tongues above pointed chins.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

The figure has no neck, with its head resting directly on its torso. The torso is a square block with hunched shoulders, crossed arms, and a belt.<ref name=Queens/><ref name=Halpin/> The figure ends just below its waist.<ref name=Kelly/> The lower section of the figure—two hands with elongated fingers carved in relief—was broken away from the top part at an unknown time in the past. This base was recently discovered half-buried in the ground close to the figure.<ref name=Halpin/>

A deep indentation of unknown purpose is carved at the top of the bilateral figure; tourists often place small mementoes in it for good luck. Fears of damage from [[Erosion#Ice|freeze-thaw erosion]] have motivated authorities to provide a canopy over the statue.{{citation needed|date=October 2015}}

The [[Nobel Prize for Literature|Nobel Prize]] winning poet [[Seamus Heaney]] celebrated the enigmatic Boa Island bilateral figure's similarity to the Roman deity Janus in his poem "January God".<ref name=Culture/><ref name=Telegraph>{{cite news|first=Linda|last=McKee|title=Fury over plan to relocate historic statue|date=17 April 2007|url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2456300.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070422154532/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2456300.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=22 April 2007|work=Belfast Telegraph|access-date=24 November 2007}}</ref> The Enniskillen-born poet [[Francis Harvey (poet)|Francis Harvey]] published a collection of poems called ''The Boa Island Janus'' in 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.irishwriters-online.com/francisharvey.html|title=Francis Harvey|access-date=24 November 2007|last=Irish Writers Online|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021125214/http://www.irishwriters-online.com/francisharvey.html|archive-date=21 October 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
Similar statues appear outside the cave of [[Crom Cruach]] in ''[[The Secret of Kells]]''.

The Lustymore Idol was discovered in an early Christian graveyard on [[Lustymore Island]],<ref name=Queens/><ref name=Kelly/> located due south of Boa Island in Lower Lough Erne. It was brought to the Caldragh graveyard on Boa Island in 1939.<ref name=Culture/> It is placed with its back to the indigenous bilateral figure. Lacking details of the facial features, it is less impressive visually,<ref name=Halpin/> and is approximately {{cvt|70|cm}} in height.<ref name=Kelly/> It is, however, thought to be older than the bilateral 'Janus' figure – which is less worn than the Lustymore figure. Irish archaeologist Eileen Murphy states in ''Warrior Women'' (2002) that the Lustymore Idol is thought by some Irish scholars to be the precursor to [[Sheela na gig]]s: her arms lie across the torso and point toward the inverted V that represents the top of the vulva (page 204). A Sheela-na-gig is a female figure with enlarged genitals held open by her hands. Note the current offerings to the statue in the photograph above.

The reasons for creating these stone sculptures and the dates of their creation are not certain. They may have been part of [[Early history of Ireland|pre-Christian]] religious sites, or they may have been made by early Christians who included older [[pagan]] beliefs in their grave sites.<ref name=Queens/>

The bilateral Dreenan figure is often compared to the two-faced [[Holzgerlingen figure]], Germany and the [[Tandragee Idol]] in [[St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh (Church of Ireland)|St. Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Armagh]].<ref name=Kelly/><ref name=Queens2>{{cite web|url=http://www.chrono.qub.ac.uk/local/armagh/Tanderagee|title=The Tanderagee Idol|access-date=24 November 2007|last=The Chrono Centre, Queen's University Belfast|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080915154955/http://www.chrono.qub.ac.uk/local/armagh/Tanderagee/|archive-date=15 September 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

These comparisons suggest that the figure date to the Iron Age. However early Christian sites around Lough Erne are rich in these types of figures.<ref name=Queens/> An example is the [[White Island, County Fermanagh|White Island]] collection of figures found {{cvt|3|miles}} south-east of Boa Island,<ref name=Halpin/> which are primitive looking, but date from the early Christian period.<ref name=Herity>Herity (1996), p. 253</ref>

{{Gallery
|File:BoaJanusSideOne.jpg|alt1=Photo of one side of the Janus figure|One side of the Janus figure, created c.400–800&nbsp;AD (''a portion of a protective canopy is shown'')
|File:JanusFigureBoaIsland.jpg|alt2=Photo of the opposite side of the Janus statue|The other side of the Janus figure, with its protruding tongue
}}

==Plane crash==
On 9 January 1944, a [[Royal Air Force]] [[Consolidated PBY Catalina]] (FP193) [[flying boat]] departed [[RAF Killadeas]] on a bombing exercise. The aircraft crashed into the lough near the island after the crew lost control during a turn. Seven of the ten crewmen died in the crash.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19440109-1 |title = ASN Aircraft accident Consolidated Catalina IB (PBY-5B) FP193 Boa Island, Lough Erne}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Eogan, George; Herity, Michael. ''Ireland in Prehistory''. London: Routledge, 2013. {{isbn|978-1-3158-8762-3}}
* Lowry-Corry, Dorothy. "The Stones Carved with Human Effigies on Boa Island and on Lustymore Island, in Lower Lough Erne". ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature'', volume 41, 1932. {{jstor|25515968}}
* Ó Hogain, Dáithí. "Patronage & Devotion in Ancient Irish Religion". ''History Ireland'', volume 8, no. 4, winter 2000. {{JSTOR|27724824}}
* Rynne, Etienn. "Celtic Stone Idols in Ireland". In: Thomas, Charles. ''[https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-281-1/dissemination/pdf/cba_rr_009.pdf The Iron Age in the Irish Sea province: papers given at a C.B.A. conference held at Cardiff, January 3 to 5, 1969]''. London: [[Council for British Archaeology]], 1972
* Waddell, John. ''The Prehistoric Archaeology of Ireland''. Galway: Galway University Press, 1998. {{isbn|978-1-8698-5739-4}}
* Warner, Richard. "[https://www.academia.edu/7150601/Two_pagan_idols_remarkable_new_discoveries Two pagan idols – remarkable new discoveries]". ''Archaeology Ireland'', volume 17, no. 1, 2003
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons}}
* [http://www.irishtimes.com/liveviews/historic/j-boa.htm Panorama of the Boa Island and Lustymore figures, ''The Irish Times'']
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/landscapes/explore.shtml Landscapes Unlocked] – Aerial footage from the BBC ''Sky High'' series explaining the physical, social, and economic geography of Northern Ireland
*[https://www.google.com/maps/@54.5172745,-7.8333538,5570m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en Google Earth view]

{{County Fermanagh}}

{{Coord|54|31|N|7|50|W|region:GB_type:isle|display=title}}

[[Category:Archaeological sites in County Fermanagh]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents locations in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Celtic stone idols]]
[[Category:Islands of County Fermanagh]]
[[Category:Lake islands of Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Scheduled monuments in Northern Ireland]]
[[Category:Townlands of County Fermanagh]]