County: Kerry Site name: VALENTIA: Church Island, Ballycarbery West
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KE079-032019 Licence number: 03E1518
Author: Alan Hayden, Archaeological Projects Ltd.
Site type: Shrine
Period/Dating: Early Medieval (AD 400-AD 1099)
ITM: E 443033m, N 578611m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 51.937444, -10.282912
Church Island was excavated by M.J. O'Kelly in the 1950s. There is a high rock knoll at the south side of the island, which O'Kelly only partly excavated, as he felt it was simply a burial area or had had an agricultural use. This area looked as if it could be a terraced shrine mound, similar to but much larger than that on the nearby excavated island monastery on Illaunloughan. The Church Island structure was re-examined over a three-week period in late August and September 2004 and proved, as expected, to be an elaborate terraced shrine mound, which measured in excess of 26m in length by more than 20m in width. The remains of at least nine stone terraces were uncovered but not fully excavated. The uppermost terrace, which was unfortunately removed by O'Kelly, would have held a tent-shaped gable shrine composed of large slabs of Valentia slate. The corner post shrine excavated by O'Kelly stood at the south-east corner of Terrace 5. The edges of the terraces were defined by low stone walls and the surface of each terrace was at least partly paved with Valentia slate and covered with small and large white quartz pebbles.
Traces of a number of burials survived on Terraces 7 and 8 but unfortunately O'Kelly appears to have removed those he recorded in the area of Terrace 9. These latter are likely to have been the remains of the founding fathers of the monastery translated into the shrine.
A stone-lined charnel pit containing the remains of at least four individuals lay at the north-east side of Terrace 7 in a position O'Kelly marked as a grave. Further burials are likely to survive in the terrace and will be examined in 2005.
The terraced mound was the largest early medieval structure on the island and it would have dominated views of the island from the south and east. It would have been of major importance to the island community and an integral and very important part of the monastery. The dominance and visual impact it would originally have had can be imagined by comparing it to the much smaller shrine mound that forms the centrepiece of the conserved monastery on Illaunloughan.
Funding for this excavation was provided by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.
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