2009:AD15 - MAYO ABBEY, Mayo

Monitoring and subsequent excavation was undertaken along the route of the Mayo Abbey Village group water scheme in Mayo parish, Co. Mayo, between March and September 2009. The archaeological features were encountered under the road surface within the confines of Mayo Abbey village along the 0.85–1.1m-wide pipe trench through the village. The linear nature of the development resulted in a number of areas of archaeological significance being encountered, rather than a congregation of archaeological features that formed a single site. For ease of recording and discussion, this development was divided into four sections: North Area, South Area, East Area and Cemetery Area. The features and finds uncovered comprised seventeen articulated and partly articulated skeletons, sections of nine ditches, three pits, a limekiln, two wall foundations and a post-hole/pit.
The majority of the archaeological features, with the exception of the inhumations, were located in the North Area, where a pit and a ditch were radiocarbon-dated to the medieval period. Although other features in this area were not radiocarbon-dated, the uniformity of the charred plant remains, wild taxa and wood charcoal throughout is suggestive of similar dates and use of the discard of domestic and hearth refuse.
A limekiln, commonly in use from the medieval period up to the end of the 19th century, and a possibly related ditch containing burnt soil and lime fragments within its fill, were among the features identified in the South Area. Six inhumations located within this area were part of an organised and planned cemetery, as all the graves were individual with no truncations and all were orientated east–west. Radiocarbon-dating placed one of the skeletons in the medieval period (11th–12th centuries). Located outside the current graveyard walls, but within the monastic enclosure (MA090–100001), these burials are directly related to the abbey, and may reflect a planned extension to the earlier abbey cemetery.
A large pit/post-hole and a wall foundation were identified in the East Area. Evidence from this area is limited, as excavation was halted in order to preserve possible archaeological remains of structural foundations in situ. The location of the features within close proximity to the abbey, and the possibility that the preserved foundations relate to an early monastic building, indicate an early date for these features.
The Cemetery Area contained eleven articulated, or partly articulated, inhumations, one of which returned an early medieval radiocarbon date (7th–9th centuries AD), pre-dating those in the South Area. The area was clearly delineated by a wall foundation to the west, beyond which no further skeletal remains were uncovered, indicating that the graveyard associated with the abbey previously extended further. These inhumations were interred in the traditional Christian manner, extended supine (legs extended and lying on the back) and aligned east–west. The radiocarbon date returned indicates that this cemetery relates directly to the original ecclesiastical foundation at the site, which was established by Colman in the mid-7th century.