EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Galway
High Island, Co. Galway
Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Settlement.
Grid Ref: L501572 (05010/25720)
SMR No: GA021-026
Excavation Licence: 95E124
Excavation Duration/Year: 1995 - 2002.
Site Directors: J.W. Marshall & G. Scally (Research).
The site is an ecclesiastical settlement located on an island off the west coast of Co. Galway.
Traditionally the site was claimed to have been founded by St. Féchín in the seventh century.
The excavation of the site was the culmination of over a decade of survey work.
A number of stone-built domestic structures were identified around the monastic church (Fig.
142). The enclosure had originally been defined by a substantial stone wall which included
two inter-mural chambers. An expansion of the monastery resulted in part of this wall being
removed and the construction of a circular (2.1m by 1.9m) beehive monastic cell (the
‘Abbot’s Cell’). Excavation of this cell in 1997 revealed a leveling floor of flagstones and
mortared material similar to that found at the church. Dating of this has been tentatively
placed in the eighth/ninth century. A larger sub-circular beehive cell (2.63m by 2.74m) was
attached to the church. Excavation in 1997 revealed that this cell was built up against the
pre-existing church wall, and thus post-dates the construction of the church. A subrectangular
structure, identified as a possible guesthouse, was located at the entrance,
against the external wall of the enclosure. Another rectangular structure (4m by 6.4m) was
identified at the top of the cliffs at a landing place. Apart from the church and domestic
structure, the monastery also had a highly developed system of millraces and millponds
feeding a horizontal hill set on the cliff edge.
Radiocarbon dates from a number of burials (see below) show that the ecclesiastic site was
still occupied from the ninth century onwards, but appears to have been largely abandoned
by the monks by the late-twelfth century.
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