Welcome to Keenaghan

Little is known about the site on the shore of Keenaghan Lough in the townland of Tievealough, the lake-side field. It is sited in a little valley, close to the shore south of the lough. Keenaghan sits in the wider landscape of north-west Fermanagh along with Boa Island’s Caldragh graveyard with its renowned stone figures.  Keenaghan with its adjoining walled cemetary is a sacred place with a long history as part of the ancient kingdom of Mulleek. 

The site is designated as an “Abbey in ruins” on the 1st and 2nd OS maps.  

Lady Dorothy Lowry Corry noted that the church building was out of use by the 1609-10 Baronial maps.  It is recorded in the 1835 Memoir as “an old abbey or chapel.” Tradition has it that there was formerly a road or a pass called the “Friar’s Walk” from the abbey to the River Erne. The church is built of limestone, probably quarried close-by. The building has been in ruins for hundreds of years, but the east gable and part of the walls still remain.  Major conservation work took place at the site in 2009/10.  

A medieval grotesque stone head found on the shore at Keenaghan, near Tievealough church, is on display in Fermanagh County Museum, Enniskillen Castle. After the water level of Keenaghan Lough had been lowered in 1971 this head was found in the lake close to the south-east shore. This is immediately north of the ruined medieval church of Tievealough.   

It is likely that the stone was a medieval mask stop or part of the corbel from the church.