An unusual building situated close to the abbey at Inishmaine is pictured here. There is some divergence of opinion as to what the function of the monument was. Sir William Wilde, father of the writer Oscar Wilde, felt that the building was a Penitentiary associated with the nearby Benedictine abbey.

Richard Hayward, writing in his book ‘Corrib Country’ (Dundalgen Press 1947) was sceptical of Wilde’s opinion and stated that Wilde was “a most romantic and unscientific of antiquarians”. He went on “It may be an elaborate teac-allais, a sweat-house or Irish Turkish Bath common enough in our country in a simpler form, or it may be one of those eighteenth century follies, built by the gentry of that spacious age who had lots of time and money and little to do with either. They were prolific in the production of all kinds of weird structures, built to puzzle posterity.”

A sweat-house was the equivalent of a modern-day sauna and was probably used to ease muscular aches and pains and to relieve feverish conditions and for cleanliness.

Hayward’s critical remarks about Sir William Wilde are only partly correct. Wilde was undoubtedly a romantic, but to say he was ‘unscientific’ is probably a bit wide of the mark. He was, after all, a surgeon of note, an ethnologist, a topographer, and it was for his work in Statistical Science that he received a knighthood in 1864.

Whatever the truth about the monument, it is a fascinating building and well worth a visit. Be warned however, the site is difficult to find and the way rough with briars, scrub, and rocks. This monument is on Private Property so be sure to obtain permission from the owners before you visit.