Boho, County Fermanagh - Places of Spiritual and Religious Significance

Places of Spiritual and Religious Significance

The Boho area is replete with sacred/religious sites, from the modern religious such as the Church of Ireland at Farnaconnell or the Sacred Heart Church in Toneel North, to the older pre-reformation churches. There were also places of worship situated outside conventional buildings that were used in times of religious and political struggle, when the need for secrecy was premium. These were found in the 18th century in places such as Aghakeeran where there was a Mass Garden and in nearby Aghanaglack during the same period, where there was a Mass Cave "Prison".

Further up on the mountain in Knocknahunshin there was records of a Mass Garden, although this may refer to a place known locally as the Mass Rock. During the 18th century, in the parish of Boho (Inishmacsaint), there was a Mass Garden in Tullygerravra. In earlier periods, around the time of James I's inquisition into church lands, there were Mass Alters at Drumgamph, Fintonagh (which was also in the parish at this time) and Killyhoman as well as a report of a holy well in the Killydrum townland.

There may have been a third traditional church in Boho parish called Templemollem or the Church of the Mill, which is mentioned in the Survey of 1603 and in the Inquisition of 1609. This was the chapel of ease called Templemullin on a tate of land owned by the sept of the McGaraghan which had an annual tribute to pay to the former Lisgoole Abbey of five gallons of butter and one axe. It is also thought that the pre-reformation church in Toneel North may have been built on an even older a pre-Christian pagan amphitheatre.