1989:041 - KILNAMONAGH, Abbeytown, Galway

A six-week excavation was conducted at the Early Christian and Medieval ecclesiastical site at Abbeytown/Kilnamonagh during 1989. The aim of the excavation was to facilitate conservation work to the site being carried out as part of a FÁS training scheme. The conservation of the church and the conventual buildings is being supervised by Mr Peter Geraghty, former Clerk of Works, O.P.W., and will continue during 1990. The foundations of the south wall were uncovered. These had not been visible for three-quarters of their length and were encountered just below the scraw. The same applies to the south-east corner of the church. No finds, apart from clay pipes, were made in these areas but re-used stone gave evidence of several phases of rebuilding.

The removal of a modern graveyard wall which overlay the west wall of the church resulted in the discovery of a late 17th-century west doorway. There is some evidence to show that the primary west gable was originally located further to the west. The late west gable interrupts and is built into a window in the south-west corner of the church. This window and the adjoining south-west corner have late re-used side-stones and quoins respectively. The modern graveyard wall to the west of the church also overlay an earlier, much thicker, wall. In this were parts of the embrasure of one or possibly two windows. The most westerly of these features was later truncated when a gap was made between it and the church leaving a straight side to the west end of the wall.

In the graveyard, to the south, a corner of a building survived. This ran partly beneath the south side of a modern boundary wall and resurfaced inside the graveyard. The south-west end of this wall ran from beneath the modern boundary to form a corner with the early wall beneath the west side of the graveyard boundary described above. To the north side of the church, the multi-period wall had been rebuilt in parts as a modern graveyard boundary. Excavations outside this wall in advance of its consolidation led to the discovery of three walls forming parts of two buildings attached to the northern side of the church. Evidence for the existence of two piers in the rebuilt north wall had also indicated the presence of at least one building in this area. The two buildings can be described briefly as follows.

Building 1: This is located towards the north-east and is keyed into the north wall of the church. The north wall itself seems to have been rebuilt in the late 17th century but a large step comprising a single stone measuring over 3m in length indicates that there was originally access to this building from the church. The function of this building is unclear. Its plan was uncovered but it was not excavated in full. The topsoil was removed from the building simply to allow the walls to be planned and conserved, but the only features encountered were a late hearth and a spread of ash and burnt wood. A dry-stone drain ran outwards to the north from the north-west corner of this building.

Building 2: The plan of a north transept to which there was access from between the piers mentioned above was also uncovered. Building 1 had been built against the east wall of this north transept. Again, the building was not excavated to any deeper than its uppermost level. Only enough excavation was done to allow the plan to be recovered in advance of conservation work. A late circular stone-lined pit overlay the robbed-out foundation of the north-west corner of this building. A cluster of large stones, including some with late medieval dressing, was present at a high level at the north-end of this transept. This cluster probably post-dated or was contemporary with the robbing out of the structure for Building 2. Part of a 17th- or 18th-century clay pipe was found within the upper levels of this building.The whole church can now be shown to have had substantial ancillary buildings. From the large number of architectural fragments and dressed stones recovered it is now possible to identify four main phases in the church alone. These phases date to the mid-13th century, late 15th-early 16th century, early 17th and late 17th century. Part of the 13th-century north door was found to have survived in situ.

Apart from 19th-century pipe stem fragments, finds were few.  About a dozen quern fragments were found. Two of these came from a cross-decorated quern of late medieval type. One hone, an anvil stone/polishing stone, one piece of iron slag and two iron nails were also among the finds, as were portions of three medieval graveslabs of 13th- or 14th-century date.

In a cutting made outside the modern graveyard wall, prior to the building of a temporary toilet, large quantities of animal bone were found.The medieval buildings are set within a complex of hut circles, banks, ditches and robbed-out walls of Early Christian to medieval date.