EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Clare
Inishcealtra, Co. Clare
Ecclesiastical Settlement
Grid Ref: R69895023 (169896/185023)
SMR No: CL029-009---
Excavation Licence: E180
Excavation Duration/year: 1970-77; 1979-80
Site Director: L. de Paor (Office of Public Works)
A long-term research and conservation project was undertaken at an ecclesiastical site on the
small island of Inishcealtra (Holy Island) between 1970 and 1980 and revealed considerable
evidence for ritual, settlement, burial and industrial activity associated with the monastery
(principally tenth to thirteenth centuries) as well as subsequent post-medieval pilgrimage and
burial activity (Fig. 51).
The ecclesiastical remains are situated in the eastern and south-eastern part of the island and
consist of a round tower, two churches, two oratories and other buildings, a large collection
of crosses and cross-slabs and an extensive system of enclosures and paths defined by
earthworks and dry-stone walls. The island is little under than 45 acres in extent and is
situated in the mouth of Scarrif bay in Lough Derg in the lower Shannon, 300m from the
western shore.
Excavations were undertaken in five general areas and comprised the Lady Well (I); tworoomed
modern cottage (II); St. Brigid’s (Baptism) church (III); the D-shaped enclosure (St.
Michael’s or Garraidh Mhichíl) at the summit of the island (IV); St. Caimin’s Church, Teampal
na bhfear nGonta, the Saint’s Graveyard, the ‘confessional’ and the Round Tower (V). Finds
and features from the Lady’s Well (I) and the two roomed cottage (II) were chiefly modern.
The site of St. Michael’s (Garraidh Mhichíl) in Area IV yielded only post-medieval pilgrimage
and burial activity.
Early Medieval Monastic Phase
The excavated archaeology from the monastic phase dates primarily from the tenth to the
thirteenth centuries. A small collection of finds (e.g. polished stone axes, chert and flint flakes
and scrapers and a flint arrowhead), however indicate prehistoric activity on the island.
Subsequent to this prehistoric activity, a series of radial bank-and-ditches crossed the
monastic quadrant of the island, but were not closely dated.
A small quadrangular enclosure defined on its west side by an early radial bank-and-ditch and
on the others by the partial remains of low secondary banks and external ditches was
discovered around St. Bridget’s church. A bronze openwork brooch (dated c. A.D. 800) found
in the primary silt of the northern enclosure ditch indicates that this feature was constructed
in the ninth century. This early phase of the monastery is largely defined by a limited number
of early artefacts, mostly recovered from secondary contexts. These include a small
enamelled object, (possibly from a seventh/eighth-century reliquary), a sandstone grave-slab
with an incised Chi-Rho cross, and as well as a few fragmentary sherds of E ware and a sherd
of Late Roman Amphora 1 (Bii)).
The earliest ecclesiastical features in the monastery appear to be a possible timber ‘shrine’ to
the west of the ‘Confessional’ cell, some burials near the shrine, an earthen oratory to the
west of the round tower and a small number of burials to the west of St. Caimin’s church.
A sequence of roughly east-west rectangular earthen oratories, predating a large late-twelfth
century circular house, were excavated to the immediate west of the round tower. The
earliest structure (5.5 by 4.1m) contained mud-built walls reinforced by close-set wattles and
was orientated on the same axis as the single-celled stone church at St. Brigid’s. The rebuildings
of this structure were more aligned with that of St. Caimin’s church to the east.
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