Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Teampall Bheanáin (GA119-009001-) was built on the E edge of a bare flat limestone fissured terrace and the ground falls away unevenly to the E of it. The ‘traces of a cashel’ recorded by Westropp (1895, 266) near the church may be the drystone terrace (L 12.5m) with square corners that was built up against the slope about 7m to the E of it. Its lower courses are well built; the upper part has been repaired. It varies in height from 1.4m at the NE corner to 0.6m at the SE corner. The corner of a second terrace or wall was noted to the W of the N face of this terrace and its SE corner was uncovered during the course of excavations, which revealed the foundations of a wall (Wth 0.8m), built on solid rock, running E-W from this corner. No trace survived further to the W where the bedrock was fully exposed (Manning 1985, 101). It is possible that these terrace features are the downslope elements of double rectangular enclosure around the E, S and W sides of the church. If originally built to a reasonable height it would have provided shelter from the prevailing winds (ibid., 110).

Compiled by: Olive Alcock

Date of upload: 4 February 2016

References

Westropp, T.J. 1895 Proceedings: Aran Islands. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 25, 250-74.

Manning, C. 1985c Archaeological excavations at two church sites on Inishmore, Aran Islands. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 115, 96-120.