Devenish Island
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Devenish Island (in Irish: daimhinis, meaning Ox Island) is an island in Lower Lough Erne, north of Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Aligned roughly north-south, it is about one and a quarter miles long and two-thirds of a mile wide.
Devenish contains one of the finest monastic sites in Northern Ireland. A round tower thought to date from the 12th century is situated on the island, as are the walls of the Oratory of Saint Molaise who established the monastery in the 6th century, on a pilgrim route to Croagh Patrick in County Mayo. It became a centre of scholarship and although raided by Vikings in 837 and burned in 1157, it later flourished as the site of the parish church and St Mary’s Augustinian Priory.
There are extensive low earthworks on the hillside, but the earliest buildings are St Molaise's House (a very small church) and the fine round tower close by, both with accomplished Romanesque decoration of the 12th century. The round tower is some 30 metres (100ft) tall and can be climbed using internal ladders. Teampull Mór, the lower church, dates from the early 13th century with a beautifully moulded south window. It was extended to the east in about 1300, and later additions include a residential wing to the north and the Maguire Chapel to the south, with 17th century heraldic slabs.
On the hilltop sits St Mary's Augustinian Priory which is of the mid 15th century and early 16th century, with church, tower and small north cloister. The priory has an intricately carved mid 15th century high cross in its graveyard.
There are several hundred loose architectural fragments on the site and among them are over 40 stones from an otherwise lost, richly-decorated Romanesque church. Some of the many loose stones are displayed and set in their historical context in the small visitor centre.
The main place to get a ferry to the island is at Trory Point, just outside Enniskillen.
