County: Antrim Site name: KELLS ABBEY, Templemoyle
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: N.F. Brannon, Historic Monuments and Buildings Branch, DOE(NI)
Site type: Church
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 714027m, N 897091m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.808755, -6.226172
The excavation, funded by DOE(NI), took place over three days in April 1986. A large break in the W gable wall of the Augustinian church extended to the ground from the splay of a window above. Within the last century this break had been formalised as a gateway, but evidence of an original door was lacking. Since the continued presence of the break posed a conservation problem for the gable, the footings of the gable were investigated in an attempt to resolve the architectural details and thus facilitate controlled conservation.
The removal of topsoil and disturbed human remains within the gap in the wall line rapidly encountered the uninterrupted footings of the W gable. These survived for a height of 0.5m above subsoil and were built to the same width of 1.7m (perhaps originally 4ft?) as the gable wall elsewhere.
The results were equivocal in determining the original presence of a W door, but it seems unlikely, given the downward extent of the window splay above, that both window and door could have been accommodated within the gable. The 'modern' gateway was clearly shown to be an extraneous feature and conservation has now proceeded in the light of these discoveries.
