2000:0889 - KILNAMANAGH, Sligo

There is no indication of a church at this site on the 1838 6-inch OS map. O’Keefe (1980) writes that a church was built here by St Fechin in the 7th century. The 1913 OS 6-inch map and the 1:2500 plan indicate a ‘church (in ruins)’, most likely a now-occupied building near the bend in the road. A local historian believes that there was a church here, and another local person says that there was a graveyard to the south-west, where he had seen human bones dug up in the past. The later OS maps reveal a pattern of walls suggesting a potential Early Christian monastic enclosure, but only the inner enclosure survived examination as a possible Early Christian feature. Dúchas The Heritage Service agreed to the development on condition of site testing. Four test-trenches, all 1.5m wide, were opened on 12 February 2000.

Trench 1 (56m long) was chosen to test for a possible enclosure at either end. Trench 2 (12.5m long) was along the line for the septic tank. Trench 3 (24m long) was across the percolation areas. Trench 4 (38.6m long) ran north through the development, again to test for a possible enclosure at the north end. No evidence for an enclosure was found in any of the trenches.

A small, shallow pit containing metal slag was discovered 0.4m below the surface, at a point 4.9m in from the north-east end of Trench 1. The soil in it was dark grey to black in colour, in contrast to the surrounding undisturbed, grey-brown soil. A boulder, 0.42m by 0.26m, was to the north-east of the pit. Three pieces of metal slag could be seen in its cleaned-off surface. The pit was no more than 0.12m deep. It was secured with a slab and sterile clay.

Dúchas recommended monitoring under licence, which took place on 4 April 2000. The digging of the wall trenches was difficult as there were boulders up to 1.8m by 1.3m by 0.5m. Despite opening these trenches there were no archaeological discoveries. The stripping of the entranceway did not reveal any indication of an enclosure.

As there does not seem to be any evidence for enclosure(s), the question arises as to whether the pit with metal slag should be associated with the church site, which is 110m south-west of the pit, or with the rectangular enclosure, 40m north-east of the pit.

The visual amenity will not be impaired by the proposed cedar-clad, two-storey house, as it will be concealed by the existing mature trees and stone walls.

Reference
O’Keefe, P. 1980 Collooney. In J.P. McGarry (ed.), Ordnance Survey Letters.

Bóthar An Corran, Keash, Co. Sligo