2022:778 - Easky Abbey, Curraghnagap, Sligo

Conservation works took place in 2021 and 2022 at Easky Abbey (RMP No. SL011-021), County Sligo, under Ministerial Consent No. C001006. The works were funded by the National Monuments Service Community Monuments Fund. The works were inspected by the writer as they progressed. Two small areas adjacent to the south doorway of the church were excavated in advance of the reconstruction of the doorway.

The medieval ecclesiastical site at Easky is located on the west side of the Easky River in the heart of the village. It appears to have been a parish church. Its listing in the Ecclesiastical Taxation of Ireland of 1306 as 'Imelackiskel' suggests a 13th- or early 14th-century date for the church. The marked burials within the church interior indicate its fall into disuse during the late 18th or early 19th century with Wakeman's drawing of 1879 showing the church roofless. The east and west gables and the south wall survive to almost full height, while the surviving lower courses of the eastern end of the north wall were capped with concrete blocks. There are window opes in both gables and near the east end of the south wall. The embrasure in the east gable is capped with a lintel that appears to be made from whale bone. The doorway is located west of centre in the south wall.  In Wakeman's drawing the doorway is surmounted by a hood moulding incorporating three carved stone heads with the mitred head at the apex of the arch depicting a bishop. Only two fragments of the dressed stone remained in situ on the doorway but during a graveyard survey in 2015-16, several displaced fragments of the hood moulding and the lower door frame were found within the adjacent graveyard. Amongst the finds was one of the carved stone heads, now badly damaged. The bishop's head had been found several years previously and was stored in a local heritage centre.

The Phase 1 works were carried out between October and December 2021 and consisted of the consolidation of the west gable and most of the length of the south wall, from its western end. The writer retrieved fallen stonework prior to the works. No cut stone or architectural fragments were in evidence. All of the rubble retrieved was used in the works. The works included the replacement of the lintel above the window in the west gable, which was considered to be in a perilous state. It also included the trimming of ivy from the north wall, the east gable and the eastern end of the south wall. A roof slate with a peg hole (E005230:1) and a much corroded snuff box or pyx (E005230:2) were recovered from the top of the west gable.

The Phase 2 works were carried out in November 2022 and consisted of the consolidation of the north wall, east gable and eastern end of the south wall, and the reconstruction of the south doorway. The base of a splayed embrasure was revealed below a section of concrete walling, which was removed from the eastern end of the north wall. The works also revealed an external footing along the east end of the south wall and along the entire length of the east gable. The reconstruction of the doorway required a reduction in ground level across two small areas on either side of the doorway, in order to expose the foundation of the doorway or a suitable base upon which to reconstruct the feature. The area excavated on the east side of the doorway measured 0.5m x 0.4-0.5m x 90-100mm deep. The area excavated on the west side of the doorway measured 0.35-0.4m x 0.2-0.3m x 0.1-0.15m deep. In both areas only topsoil was removed, which contained a small number of modern glass fragments and one modern metal bottle cap. Below the topsoil was rubble foundation. The stone lintel above the interior of the doorway, which had a structural crack across its width, was repaired with two steel pins inserted to tie it together. The exterior of the doorway was subsequently reconstructed.

4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, County Mayo