Islands of Ireland: Derrynaflan in a sea of bog

It is the burial place of the famous architect known as the Gobán Saor

Church on Derrynaflan Island near Horse and Jockey, Co Tipperary. Nearby is the grave of the famous medieval architect the Goban Saor. Picture: Dan MacCarthy 

AS you stroll down an avenue of cow parsley, knapweed and yarrow a few kilometres east of Horse and Jockey in Co Tipperary, something lies above the horizon of bog. On the approach down a newly built trackway, a dominant arc rises from the landscape in a place that could have as much significance in the ecclesiastical world as Croagh Patrick. Welcome to Derrynaflan Island.

This island of about 50 acres is a mystical site that has a steady stream of visitors but which has massive potential were it to be fully promoted along the lines of, say, the Rock of Cashel.