The story of Inishmacsaint
The name comes from the Irish Inis-maige-samh, the island of the sorrel plain, and wood sorrel still grows here. A monastery was founded on the island around 530 by St Ninnidh, a grandson of Laoghaire, High King of Ireland, and one of the figures counted among the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is said to have travelled the shores of Lough Erne in a hollowed-out boat, visiting churches with his monks.
The early monastic buildings were probably damaged or destroyed during raids in the 9th and 10th centuries. The stone church that survives today was built in stages. The small west end is pre-Romanesque, of the 10th or 11th century, with a blocked doorway, and an eastern extension was added around 1200.
By 1306 the church was serving as the local parish church, a role it kept until the parish was abandoned in the 18th century. The graveyard around it remained in use, with burials into the 18th and 19th centuries and a separate enclosure for unbaptised children.
The tall sandstone cross to the south-west is harder to date. It is plain and unringed, with its head jointed onto the shaft, and is usually placed in the 12th century, though an earlier date has been suggested. Today the cross, the roofless church and the graveyard sit in state care as one of Fermanagh's quiet island monastic sites on the Lough Erne Pilgrim Way.