County: Galway Site name: 'ST MARY'S CATHEDRAL', Townparks No. 2,Tuam
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Miriam Clyne, Templemartin, Craughwell, Co. Galway
Site type: Cathedral and Graveyard
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 543263m, N 751823m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.513326, -8.855428
As a condition of planning permission, the area of a proposed extension at St Mary's Cathedral, Tuam, was excavated.
The excavation, of eleven weeks' duration, was funded by St Mary's Restoration Fund. An area 7.3m x 8.5m, adjoining both the north wall of the Gothic choir, built c. 1300, and the east wall of a later structure, formerly the Chapter Room, was excavated.
A foundation course, built of rough mortared masonry with large stones on the outer faces and a rubble core, was uncovered. This provided a footing for the east wall of the Chapter Room and abutted onto the foundations of the north-west buttress of the Gothic choir which it apparently post-dates. The foundation course was only partially revealed and measured 6.7m long and c. 1.6m wide.
An enigmatic feature, consisting of three connecting low dry-stone walls, was revealed close to the eastern and northern boundaries of the site. An irregularly-shaped gravel area was delimited by two of the walls.
Thirty-eight articulated human skeletons, complete or partially disturbed, were also found, indicating that it was part of a graveyard. All the skeletons were supine and the orientation was predominantly E-W, with the head to the west. Burial was in unmarked pits and a variety of ages were represented. Skeletons were disturbed by successive burials, and by the construction of the Gothic choir and the stone foundation course, indicating that the graveyard was in use before 1300. Eight of the burials were of later date.
The bulk of the finds consisted of potsherds, glass fragments and iron nails. The pottery included a few sherds of 13th-/14th-century, green glazed ware, from the Saintonge area, imported late medieval pottery, imported 17th-century ware, and also a late medieval strap-handle, probably from a cooking pot, which was produced locally. (I am grateful to R. Ó Floinn and M. Dunlevy for help in identifying the pottery.) The most interesting discoveries were two scallop shells, each with a pair of perforations for attachment to the wearer's apparel. One shell was in situ on a skeleton. Their presence in the graveyard indicates that two of the deceased went on pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James the Greater at Compostela, in Galicia, north-west Spain. Santiago de Compostela was a major pilgrimage shrine from the 11th century onwards and pilgrims brought back as a memento scallop shells, the emblem of Saint James.
