2023:549 - St Mary's Abbey, Ferns Demesne, Ferns, Wexford

In June-July 2023 the Irish Archaeology Field School (IAFS: a trading name of the Irish Heritage School) undertook the third season of excavations at Ferns Demesne townland in Ferns, Co. Wexford. The site is located adjacent to St Mary’s Abbey, a recorded monument which forms part of a significant multi-period complex (WX015-003004-, WX015-003031-, WX015-003032-, WX015-003033- etc.) The site was founded by St Aidan around the turn of the seventh century and also contains early medieval crosses and cross slabs, a twelfth-century Augustinian Abbey (St Mary’s Abbey), and a thirteenth-century medieval cathedral (St Edan’s Cathedral) within its wider confines.
The excavations were conducted under Ministerial Consent (C000967; excavation and detection references E005108 and R000521) as the third and final season of a three-year research excavation, running from 2021-2023. In 2023 two new cuttings, Cuttings 5 and 6 (in addition to four initial cuttings in 2021-2022), were opened to further investigate findings from the 2021-2022 seasons (see previous bulletins for further details).

Cutting 5 was excavated across the eastern claustral range south of St Mary's Abbey (WX015-003004), with the Abbey having been confirmed as claustral in the IAFS’ 2021-2022 excavations. These excavations clarified that claustral walls were extant on site and that these walls represented the outer walls of range buildings surrounding a smaller internal cloister. In particular, excavations in Cutting 3 in 2022 identified the sub-surface foundations of an eastern range, c.5m in internal width, which was defined by c.1.25m-wide walls which contained several internal features.

Cutting 5 aimed to further investigate the claustral range, specifically identifying the relationship/phasing of the eastern range relative to St Mary’s church, and further investigating if the abbey had a claustral walk. Cutting 5 was L-shaped, measuring c.14.75m x 2.25m in total dimensions. Excavations in the cutting revealed the extremely ephemeral presence of the eastern east range wall, which has been almost completely quarried out, as well as a very short segment of the western east range wall, which was also almost entirely removed by post-medieval and modern disturbance. Internally a possible internal dividing wall, a couple of burnt deposits and a floor surface(s) were also documented. Unfortunately, the northern part of the L-shaped trench was extensively disturbed by modern cuts, which truncated almost all underlying archaeology and greatly hindered the excavation answering this season's research questions.

Cutting 6 was excavated to assess a possible enclosure surrounding a double-aisled structure (WX015-003033-) that was the subject of excavations in 2021-2022. Excavations in 2021-2022 confirmed this double-aisled structure was preserved below ground in the form of short segments of poorly arranged masonry and ‘rubble’-filled wall cuts that have been extensively ‘robbed out’. Unfortunately, the excavation did not definitively define the function of the building. However, previously Breathnach and Dowling (2021) speculated the building may have served as the residence of Diarmait Mac Murchada or as a diminutive form of eleventh- to twelfth-century stone castle (whilst also postulating on post-medieval functions that excavations have since discounted).

Dowling’s 2015 geophysical at the site also indicated this structure was potentially surrounded by an enclosure measuring some 65m in diameter; this enclosure was the focus of excavations in Cutting 6 in 2023, in the hope it might also be instructive as to the double-aisled building’s overall purpose. Cutting 6, a broadly rectangular cutting measuring c. 6m x 2.5m, confirmed that a large ditch, measuring 5.8m in width x 2.5m minimum depth, exists on site. This ditch may hint at a more defensive function for the building, although analysis of the 2023 excavation season remains ongoing. A stone-lined probable storage pit was also recorded as being cut through the backfilled ditch.

Most of the artefacts from the site (apart from some sherds of ‘modern’ pottery) from both this and previous excavation seasons, date from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, matching the historical existence of high medieval structures at the site. By far the most abundant finds were pottery, mainly Leinster Cooking Ware but also Wexford-type Coarseware, Wexford Type Ware, Ham Green A and B Ware, Saintonge, Saintonge Sgraffito, Minety Ware, etc. The most notable finds from the entire excavation include a medieval dress pin, medieval coins, a lead came (which suggests glazed windows in the claustral ranges) and, from the 2023 season, a medieval die (which unfortunately came from the topsoil of Cutting 5). Additionally, several architectural fragments were uncovered including a splayed windowsill with a bar hole.

Excavations at the site are now concluded with a full report and publication of the site currently in progress.

References

Dowling, G. 2015. Geophysical Investigations at Ferns, Co. Wexford. Unpublished Technical Report for the Discovery Program.

Breathnach, E. And G. Dowling. 2021. Forming an episcopal see and an Augustinian foundation in medieval Ireland: the case of Ferns, Co. Wexford. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy C: 191-226.

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