1999:305 - HIGH ISLAND, Galway

In summer 1999 a fifth season of excavation was carried out over nine weeks. Following on from previous years' excavations, a trench 15m east-west x 10m north-south was opened in the area north of the church enclosure wall. This area was chosen for excavation as a small beehive hut, Cell A, within the area is scheduled for reconstruction by Dúchas The Heritage Service. Apart from the cell, part of the cashel wall and a previously unknown subrectangular structure were also identified.

Cell A is the earliest of the three structures. A stone-kerbed hearth outside the cell to the south-east appears to be associated with its earliest occupation. Post-dating the construction of the hearth, the cell was surrounded by an annulus that encircled all but its south face, where the entrance was. The annulus was for the most part built of stone, with a good face apparent on its external side. It was relatively well preserved and in places stood almost 0.9m high. No definite dating evidence has been uncovered for this phase of activity; however, the stratigraphic relationship between Cell A and various other structures and features such as the enclosure wall, paved surfaces and the existing church (thought to be 10th-century, based on radiocarbon determination of in situ burial) suggests that it is most probably 10th-century or earlier.

Sometime later the monastery seems to have been enclosed by a cashel wall. This was built around the earlier Cell A and effectively incorporated it into its extent.

Post-dating the cashel wall, a subrectangular structure, possibly an enclosure as opposed to a roofed building, was built onto the north side of the wall. Only three walls of this structure were identified. The (east and west) side-walls splayed slightly outwards, yielding internal dimensions of 3.8–4.84m wide east-west. The east wall was 1.9m long, while the west wall was 3.4m long, north-south. No delimiting wall was identified along the south side; however, the cashel wall in this area had been partially robbed out, and it is thought that it may have been deliberately dismantled in this location so as to provide access into the structure. Excavation inside the subrectangular structure was not completed this year, and its function remains unknown.

As a result of the presence of this new building a passage was cut into the cashel wall on the north-west side; the passage was stepped and paved along its length. Adjacent to the passage the internal face of the cashel wall appeared to have been reinforced with a second face of stone, an apparent attempt to strengthen the wall in this area.

At the end of the previous year's excavation a low wall, standing at most 0.45m high, was exposed on the external side of the north wall of the church enclosure. It was thought at the time that the wall was part of the remains of an earlier enclosure wall. However, excavation in 1999 revealed that the wall, in its excavated form, was of no greater antiquity than the church enclosure wall, and the two walls functioned together by retaining substantial quantities of dumped ash, charcoal, heather and burnt peat, most of which contained food remains. The alignment of the low wall in relation to the church enclosure wall, coupled with its location in this area, nonetheless suggests that its foundations may be of greater antiquity than the overlying courses.

By the mid-12th/early 13th century the monastery was abandoned (dating based upon radiocarbon determination of a burial cut into the church floor), but in the decades, and possibly the centuries, afterwards the site appears to have been frequented possibly by pilgrims or other devotees to the island saints. Traces of transient activity in the form of hearths and small shell middens were uncovered across the excavated area.

Of the small array of finds from the site, the most notable were a number of decorated cross-slabs and two coins. The earliest coin is a debased silver penny thought to have been minted in Norway under King Harold the Hardrada in the mid-11th century, while the later coin is an early 13th-century halfpenny, minted in Dublin under King John (identification, Michael Kenny, NMI).

Conservation and stabilisation work by Dúchas was carried out on the west gable of the church and on the south and west walls of the church enclosure. The work is ongoing.

Funding for this excavation was provided by Dúchas The Heritage Service.

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