Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

The monastic remains on High Island lie in a sheltered valley at the SW end of the island. When visited in 1984 the ecclesiastical enclosure was defined by a very ruinous drystone wall that was breached by four entrances at NE, SE, SW and NW. The main entrance at SE was flanked on each side by a ruined building (see GA021-026089-). A mural chamber was evident in the wall at SW but another recorded at NW (Herity 1977, 55) was not visible. The main features noted within the enclosure were the church (GA021-026014-) surrounded by traces of a smaller enclosure (GA02-1026021-), two cross-slabs (GA021-026023- and GA021-026025-) and two clochans (GA021-026012- and GA021-026013-). The area between the church and its surrounding enclosure was completely covered in collapsed material (SMR file).
Following a series of excavations and conservation works that were carried out on the monastery from 1995 to 2002 (Scally 2014), the N section of the ecclesiastical enclosure (32m E-W; 27m N-S), which is roughly oval in plan, was rebuilt. The original N wall (Wth 2.4m; int. H 0.24m; ext. H 0.4m) consisted of a bank of earth and stone that was revetted with stone-facing. The E wall (max. Wth 1m) was mainly of stone. The S wall (Wth 2.2-2.5m), which was the best preserved section of walling, survived to a height of 1.2m and was built entirely of stone. The W wall (Wth 3-4m; H c. 1.5m) had largely collapsed. Two phases of construction were noted in the N wall and the secondary phase was of similar construction to the primary phase. However, three wall faces were evident in the latter wall: the N and inner wall-faces were built on the line of the primary wall but the S wall-face marked the extension of the wall by 1m to the S. A buttress was built against the external wall-face at SW. Internally paved surfaces survived over most of the excavated areas. The mural chamber (L 6.62m; Wth 0.9m; H 1.35m) within the enclosure wall at SW was investigated and the one at NW was identified. The latter was smaller and was not as well-preserved as the SW example. The building noted in 1984 to the N of the SE entrance passage may be a third mural chamber. Due to dense overgrowth it was unclear whether it lay within or abutted the monastic wall. A leacht (GA021-026088-) was built against it. Within the enclosed area excavations revealed internal walls, and evidence for domestic and industrial activities including metal-working underneath the clochan (GA021-026013-) to the E of the church. A rock-cut well and associated water trough to the NE of this clochan indicated that a complex water-management system was in place. The date when the enclosure wall was originally built was unclear but it appears to have been in place by the end of the 10th or the beginning of the 11th century. When complete and at its original height it would have been a substantial and imposing structure (ibid., 42-4; 113, 119-131, 294-306). (Kinahan 1869, 348; Healy 1890, 673-86; Macalister 1896, 197-210; Herity 1977 52-68; Gosling 1993, 95-6; White Marshall and Rourke 2000, 45-67)

The following images have been uploaded:
GA021-026022-_01.JPG General view from E
GA021-026022-_02.JPG View of N wall from W
GA021-026022-_03.JPG Section of wall at S

Compiled by: Olive Alcock

Date of upload: 14 December 2015

References

Healy, J. 1890 An island shrine in the west. The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 673-86.

White Marshall, J. and Rourke, G.D. 2000 High Island: an Irish monastery in the Atlantic. Dublin. Town House and Country House.

Scally, G. 2014 High Island (Ardoileán), Co. Galway: excavation of an early medieval monastery. Archaeological Monograph Series 10. Dublin. The Stationery Office.

Macalister, R.A.S. 1896a The antiquities of Ardoilean, County Galway. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 26, 197-210.

Kinahan, G.H. 1869b Proceedings: ancient remains on the islands off the western coast of Iar-Connaught. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 10, 348.

Herity, M. 1977 The High Island hermitage. Irish University Review, Spring, 52-68.

Gosling, P. (compiler) 1993 Archaeological inventory of County Galway, vol. 1: West Galway. Dublin. Stationery Office.