Prehistory

Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of ringfort, stone circle, bullaun, souterrain and hut sites in the surrounding townlands of Milleens and Deelis.^[3][4]

Ecclesiastical sites

Historically associated with Saint Fiachna, there are a number of ecclesiastical sites around Bonane,^[5] including a Mass rock at Inse an tSagairt in Innisfoyle townland.^[6] In his 2013 book on Mass rocks, Tony Nugent includes a story about the last killing of a Roman Catholic priest at a Mass rock, which reputedly took place at the Inse an tSagairt site in 1829.^[7] According to the story, described in other sources as a "strong folk belief",^[6] a woman nicknamed Nell na Deataighe or "Nell of the Smoke", who ran a shebeen at nearby Glengarriff, conspired with five local men to kill a priest and split the £45 bounty among themselves. After capturing the priest during Mass, beheading him inside a house at Killowen near Kenmare, and bringing his severed head to Cork city, the six conspirators learned that Catholic Emancipation had just been signed into law and that no reward would be given. In frustration, the six priest hunters reputedly threw the severed head into the River Lee.^[7]

The nearby parish church at Sheana-Shéipéil, described as having "tottering walls" and a "confined unsafe cabin" in 1839, was replaced with a new structure at Milleens in the mid-19th century.^[6] The present church, dedicated to Saint Fiachna, was built on the same site in 1892.^[8]