2017:202 - Staad, Agharrow, Sligo

Staad Abbey (SL005-022) is located in the townland of Agharrow, in the parish of Ahamlish, Co. Sligo. Here, a ruined medieval church stands in a pasture field, close to a low sea cliff of maximum height c. 3m. An irregular, embanked enclosure at the east end surrounds a cluster of small, rough headstones, indicating a known cillín cemetery for unbaptised infants and neonates. A pile of rubble several metres from the west end of the church is probably the remains of an outdoor altar or leacht. In February 2015 the beach cobbles in the area below the adjacent field, some 30m to the north-east of the church, began to move under the influence of storms, revealing a layer of preserved peat (SL005-193). By May 2017 this exposed area of peat extended across an area of c. 30m east-west by c. 4.6m, but also continued under the beach cobbles. The area of exposure is above the high tide mark, at a break of slope formed during storm surges. In May 2017, after a prolonged dry spell that caused the peat to dry and shrink, a number of in-situ wooden stakes were identified and recorded in the peat. At c. 0.5 – 0.8m high, the sea cliff in the field to the south of the present peat exposure is lower than that in the area of the church (c. 1.5 – 2.5m) and until recently was covered by a grassy slump, which has partly collapsed due to erosion. This rescue excavation was carried out on the peat deposit between 27 June and 3 July 2017 with the aim of determining the nature and date of these at-risk features.

A total of 20 upright, in-situ wooden stakes were excavated from the peat deposit. These formed a number of lines and groupings and some of the ends of the stakes were worked. They were mainly of willow, with some hazel also identified. In addition, an underlying horizontal layer of wood was identified, partially excavated and sampled. This material consisted mainly of willow with some hazel and alder. Specialist analysis showed that some of this material had evidence of working, demonstrating that this was also a structure, probably either a trackway or platform. Radiocarbon dating showed an Early Bronze Age date for this underlying structure. The uprights were put in place long after the peat had covered the horizontal wood deposit yielding evidence for two phases of Middle Bronze Age date.

Cutting 1a was opened with the aim of determining the nature of Feature 2, which had been identified prior to excavation as a possible stretch of wall. However excavation of the apparent wall demonstrated that it was a natural occurrence, caused by cobbles tumbling and becoming fixed in the most stable position, giving the impression of a stretch of wall sitting on a shelf of uneroded sand. The full stratigraphic sequence at the site was investigated in Cutting 1, and samples of marl, peat and sand were obtained for  environmental analysis, which is presently continuing.

CERIS, Department of Environmental Science Institute of Technology, Sligo, Ash Lane, Sligo