Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

  As part of the Chapple Family trip through Fermanagh & Tyrone, we stopped off at the unassuming graveyard of Caldragh on Boa Island. In amongst the small, uninscribed stones and the handful of 19 th and 20 th century headstones is one of the gems of Irish archaeology – the Boa Island figure. This is a so-called ‘Janus’ figure with a face on either side of the stone as wells as the Lustymore Idol – a figure sculpture moved here from a nearby island. Both are probable representations of Iron Age deities and are much better described and explained by Wikipedia [ here ]. The last time I was here with the Chapples Minor was in the summer of 2013. It was a gorgeous day, with wonderful light and I managed to get some acceptable photos of the carvings [ here ]. Unfortunately, the light wasn’t nearly as good on our October 2020 visit and the resulting video doesn’t do justice to these remarkable carvings. However, it does provide the opportunity for a few minutes of relaxation in a ...

< Back to Table of Contents I recently posted about a rather wonderful collection of Romanesque capitals from Saint-Laurent. They are gorgeous pieces, demonstrating the very best of the craftsman’s art. They, like this little carving of an abbot or bishop, date to the 12th century, but the two couldn’t be more different. This figure, holding a crook in his right hand, is remarkably crude and inelegantly executed by comparison … but it is endlessly charming and I love it anyway! He was discovered in 1851 set into the east end of the church. Later in the same century the carving was repurposed as a modillion (or cornice bracket). Thankfully, the decision was made to create a replica and this delicate carving was brought indoors in 1997.