County: Antrim Site name: ST PATRICK'S CHURCH, Glebe
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 13:10 Licence number: —
Author: Declan Hurl, EHS, DoE(NI)
Site type: Church and Graveyard
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 707685m, N 933205m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.134481, -6.311223
The planned restoration of the 19th-century church in an Early Christian ecclesiastical enclosure in Glebe townland, Armoy, permitted the investigation of the interior after the removal of the wooden floor.
A trench was opened in each of the four corners of the nave. After clearing a layer of construction debris up to 1.4m thick, a thick layer of black greasy clay was exposed. Within it were found 56 articulated skeletons, half of which were of adults and most of which were supine, extended and coffined (the latter was denoted by lines of nails and occasional pieces of wood). One pair of feet was found to be from a leprosy sufferer. Many other disarticulated remains, disturbed by subsequent burials and construction work, were also recovered.
Burials were also prevalent around the exterior of the church, uncovered when the concrete path was removed. This also revealed a stone 'plinth', which projected from beneath the south wall of the present church and appeared to be the south wall of the medieval church. An examination of this and other reported dimensions suggested that the latter was a transverse structure.
5–33 Hill Street, Belfast
