St. Loman

Portloman

Portloman, Lough Owel

© Sean Magee

Portloman
© Sean Magee

Portloman

Portloman, Lough Owel

© Sean Magee

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The Feast of St. Loman who is associated with the parish of Portloman on the shores of Lough Owel is celebrated on the 7th Feburary. There appears to be some confusion as to whether St. Loman of Portloman and St. Loman of Lough Gill County Sligo are one and the same or are they of two different time spans. It is stated in The Martyrology of Donegal that Loman is a nephew of St. Patrick but this is incorrect because St. Loman is from a later century. The Martyrology however records that Lomman's bachall (crozier) was in the possession of Walter MacEdward in Port-Lommain and this appears to be correct. (Pilgrimage to Portloman Dermot Bannon)

The Parish of Portloman or Portlemon is in the barony of Corkaree, situated on the western shores of Lough Owel got its name from an earthen mound containing a hollow rock about four feet in diameter. This feature lies west of the ruins of St. Loman's Church and was called Leac Lomán. It was between this mound and the old church that the people carried out The Stations. Tradition states that when the plague raged in Ireland that St. Loman kept it out through the power of prayer and hence people flocked from all parts of Ireland to share in devotions at this spot. St. Loman's Church on the shore of Lough Owel was part of Lord de Blaquiere's demesne and was situated in a place originally called Port Lomain or St. Loman's Port or Bank or Harbour. The Church of Portloman was given to an English Abbey after the Anglo-Norman invasion. In 1486 Thomas, Prior of St. Giles, of Little Malvern, in Worcestershire and his convent, granted this church (inter alia) to St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin. The Church of Portloman measures seventy-seven feet in length by twenty-feet four inches. A tomb-stone was found in the cemetery with a cross carved on which seems to have marked the resting place o some distinguished ecclesiastic.