Station island gazetteer entry

Station island gazetteer entry

Lough Derg--Vicinity--Geography--gazetteer

The entry for Lough Derg in an 1842 Irish gazetteer

John Parker Lawson, d. 1852

The gazetteer of Ireland, containing the latest information from the most authentic sources, p. 310

Edinburgh Print. & Pub. Co., Edinburgh

1842

Digitised by Google, sponsored by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, archived on Hathi Trust digital library

Public domain

Gazetteer

English

Gazetteer

DD_0488

54.6153, -7.8864

"The island known as Saint’s Island, on which are the remains of a Priory, was in early times the resort of pilgrims, and is said to have contained the original St Patrick's Purgatory , for centuries removed to Station Island. The latter island is less than a mile from the south-east shore of the lake, is about one acre in extent, and contains two small chapels, one of which is appropriated to the use of those doing penance, a residence for the officiating priests, and a few inhabited cabins. The road from Pettigoe to the ferry, by which access is gained to the island, is very bad, over bog and mountain, and the reason assigned for the non-construction of a good road is, that the pilgrims would be interrupted by the presence of too many heretics!
Over this road to the ferry thousands of pilgrims, of all ages, wend their way to the island, to atone for their sins and offences, by way of penance, barefooted. The ferry is let for L.160 per
annum by the proprietor of the lake, and at one time yielded L.260. It is calculated that from 10,000 to 15,000 votaries annually repair to do penance in this bleak and dreary scene from the 1st of June to the 15th of August. On the latter day the affair concludes, the pilgrims return to their respective localities, the boat is laid up, and silence once more reigns supreme over the solitary and sequestered Lough Derg."

xvi, 812 p. 18 cm.