placenamesBoho
Botha
The Fermanagh village brings together a long-used religious site, a distinctive underground landscape and material traces of Famine relief work.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Botha · Irish · main form · validated name
- Boho · English · main form
Place & story
The cross at Toneel North
Boho’s high cross survives as a red sandstone shaft and socketed base in the graveyard above Sacred Heart Church. Its ringed head is missing. Carved panels include interlace, spirals and biblical subjects, notably Adam and Eve. The early ecclesiastical site is associated with the female saint Faber, or Feadhbar. The cross’s surviving form records both medieval religious carving and the losses that altered the monument over time. [2]
What conservation revealed in 2002
By 2002, the cross had developed a pronounced eastward lean. Archaeologists excavated around its base so that conservation workers could support and straighten it. Beneath the socketed base they found a previously unrecorded sandstone foundation slab, set above a later burial deposit. The evidence suggested that the cross had probably been erected in its present position during work at the graveyard in the early nineteenth century, rather than standing there unchanged since its creation. [2]
The Line and Famine relief
Near Boho, the unfinished route known as The Line preserves evidence of relief employment during the Great Famine. Research accompanying an archaeological excavation traced Treasury approvals for a new road between Cloghane Bridge and Boho Crossroads in 1846–47. The route broadly followed the older Boho Road, with substantial drainage ditches. It was never completed as the main road. The surviving earthworks make a difficult period visible through the work undertaken by local labourers. [3]
A maze beneath the limestone
Boho’s cave system follows intersecting fractures in the limestone, producing a network of passages rather than one simple tunnel. The protected site includes approximately 1.5 kilometres of explored passage, together with intermittently flowing surface channels, a waterfall and a gorge. Calcite formations occur within the caves, which also support bats and specialised invertebrates. The village’s surface river and underground passages belong to the same changing drainage system, shaped by water moving through soluble rock. [4]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Boho. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Boho High Cross, Toneel North: Data Structure Report 003, 2002 · Colm Donnelly, Philip Macdonald, Eileen Murphy and Nicholas Beer, Queen’s University Belfast
- An Archaeological Excavation at a Famine Road in Drummacoorin, Boho: Report 143 · Eileen Murphy with Colm Donnelly, Gillian Allmond, Brian Sloan and Alastair Ruffell, Queen’s University Belfast
- Boho Area of Special Scientific Interest · Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2010-04-19. How this page was prepared.