The Tomfinlough Plague Stone is located at the ruins of Fenloe church in Co Clare, which has ties to the area’s folklore regarding a mermaid seen in Fenloe Lake.
St. Luchtighern, the founder of an early medieval monastery here, had his feast day celebrated on the 28th of April, with a history recorded in the Dictionary of Irish Saints.
The Annals of the Four Masters document several events linked to the Fenloe monastery, including the death of its abbot in A.D 944 and an attack in A.D 1054 by Turlough O’Brien.
Currently in poor condition, the church displays architectural development from the tenth to fifteenth centuries and is surrounded by a rectangular graveyard.
The Plague Stone is associated with folklore describing a miraculous healing during a historical plague, with accounts suggesting people visiting for cures by rubbing their ailments against the stone.
