Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Building
Inishcaltra Or Holy Island, County Clare, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Inishcaltra Or Holy Island
- County
- Clare
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Confessional
- Latest-edition OS map
- Confessional (in Ruins) (1920)
- Coordinates
- 52.91571, -8.44780
- SMR number
- CL029-009017-
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1790 "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Listed as 'Potential site - name' in the RMP (1996) based on the OS map designation. Situated on a narrow shelf on an E-facing slope immediately NE of the ‘Saint’s Graveyard’ (CL029-009030-) on Inis Cealtra and standing at one time in a circular enclosure (CL029-009132-). Although named ‘Confessional’ on the OS 6-inch map it is not clear that this structure had a penitential use. A small ruined building (ext. dims. 3.1m E-W; 2.45m N-S) built of roughly coursed mortared walls surviving to 1.45m in height (max. T 0.65m). There is a plinth of different widths all around but widest at N (0.48m; H 0.25m) and there is stone paving at E and S. A doorway at E (Wth 0.57m) leads into the interior which is divided by two inclined flat standing stones. Two inclined square blocks occupy the corners at the W end of the building. These four stones occupy most of the floor space of the building. Excavation was conducted on this building and the surrounding area in the early 1970s. The upright stones in the building surrounded ‘a shallow cist-like construction of limestone flags’ (De Paor 2013, 37) and the 'confessional' was shown in its present form to date to around AD 1700. It had been rebuilt several times. This stone building appears to have replaced an earlier timber structure or shrine to the W (CL029-009134-) that was itself rebuilt several times. It may have been used as a reliquary. A recumbent cross-slab with a slot for an upright slab to the E were aligned with the confessional and the style suggests a tenth or eleventh-century date. Iniscealtra is a national monument in state care, no. 5. (Macalister 1916-17, 132)
The following images are attached:
CL029-009017-_01.jpg View from NE with St. Caimin's church and round tower in background.
CL029-009017-_02.jpg View from SW.
CL029-009017-_03.jpg View of interior ©Photographic Archive, National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland.
Compiled by: Mary Tunney
Date of upload: 19 October 2015
References
de Paor †, L. 2013 Inis Cealtra: Archaeological investigations of the monuments on the island. North Munster Antiquarian Journal 53, 27-78.
Macalister, R.A.S 1916-17 The history and antiquities of Inis Cealtra. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 33C, 93-174.
Nearby in the register
- Cross-slabunder 1 mi
- Crossunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Shrineunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.