Islands of Ireland: Ask not for whom the bell tolls

Castle Island, Co Westmeath. Location of discovery of Lough Lene bell in 1882, reputedly the possession of St Fechin in the 7th century. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

The words in our headline above were written by John Donne in 1623 in his poem of the same title when describing transience and its deathly hold on all of us. In the first line of the same poem he wrote “no man is an island” which endears the English metaphysical poet to this column.

The bell in question in this case is known as the Lough Lene bell of Castle Island, Co Westmeath. It dates from the eighth century and was once the probable possession of St Feichin of Fore, a settlement near the lake. This is the same Feichin whom we met earlier in this series as the founder of a monastery on High Island, Co Galway.

Dan MacCarthy: 'Castle Island is truly diminutive, with not room enough to swing a cat, or a bell, and definitely not to build a castle.'

The bell is a splendid example of an early church hand bell (used primarily in Masses) of which many examples exist. This one is particularly interesting in that a replica cast from it was presented to Dáil Éireann in 1931 and since then has been the bell used by the ceann comhairle to call to order TDs for the day’s business. It was presented to the Dáil by the widow of former TD, Major Bryan Cooper.

By far the largest island in the lough is Turgesius Island. The heavily wooded island was named after the eponymous ninth-century Viking king who was tricked by the king of Meath, Maelseachlainn, into a tryst with his daughter and who paid with his life. About 300m away to the northwest is the much smaller Nun’s Island, which is still sizeable enough and again, very leafy. On a recent trip to the lake to visit its islands it was apparent that the third of the trio was very hard to distinguish. After scanning the shoreline back and forth with a small pair of binoculars the shy island finally gave itself up: Castle Island. The three islands are collectively known as Smythe’s Islands after the owner of the adjacent Barbavilla estate and author of an article on the bell.

Castle Island is truly diminutive, with not room enough to swing a cat, or a bell, and definitely not to build a castle. That name was probably a reference to a nearby castle of which the island was a property. Its major significance was that it was considered useful as a place to hide a valuable possession; somewhere where no-one would think to look, and no-one did.

The Lough Lene bell was discovered about 1,000 years after being initially hidden, probably to keep it from the voracious Vikings. A young boy out fishing for eels came across the priceless artefact in 1881 and it was promptly passed on to the Royal Irish Academy by the owner of the estate in the village of Collinstown, William Smythe. Unfortunately, the boy’s name is not given by the record. The bell is today kept in the National Museum.

“Fore was a place of great devotion,” wrote Smythe. “It contains the remains of three saints’ churches, a monastery, and the church of an anchorite.” He wrote that the early medieval bell was perfect “with the Christian emblem of the cross faintly, but distinctly, marked upon it in outline on two sides”. It has an elaborate border decoration which sets off the crosses and enhances the artistic merit.

Castle Island is a crannóg which was constructed in unusually deep water according to the National Monuments Service. It was surveyed in 1987 as part of the Crannóg Archaeological Project (Farrell and Brady). The authors wrote that “given the number and size of the worked timbers, it is very probably that the timber structure that originally surrounded the island was many times the size.”

The site was dated dendrochronologically to AD 855 ± 9 years.

This Castle Island is one of at least four in the country. A few wildflowers were evident, including willowherb and bishop’s wort when this writer came calling. The latter has medicinal uses: a survivor from the lake’s days as an ecclesiastical hub, perhaps.

• How to get there: In the absence of any commercial operation kayaking is your only option. Kayaks must be cleansed thoroughly before embarking on the lake due to the risk of spreading invasive species.
  
• Other: On the Bell from Lough Lene in the Academy’s Museum; William Barlow Smythe; Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy; Vol. 2 (1879 - 1888); maps.archaeology.ie/HistoricEnvironment