Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

At Moyne Franciscan friary (MA022-024001-).
Documentary sources detailed in Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 255) record that the friary had an orchard, and four acres of pasture surrounded by a stone wall. The outline of a rectilinear monastic precinct can still be seen enclosing the friary buildings, defined by a stone wall at S and E, and at N by a low, grassed-over wall remnants. A geophysical survey conducted in 2015 cast light on more complex land use (Dowling 2015). An E-W band (Wth c. 3m) of positive magnetic gradient to the N of the friary, close to the townland boundary between Abbeylands and Moyne, was interpreted as evidence of ‘a substantial in-filled ditch’ which ‘may comprise an early land division associated with the abbey.’ There was evidence of a trackway c. 100m E of the friary, consisting of two parallel ditches, 4m apart, on an NW−SE axis. The trackway appeared to overlie the imprint of cultivation ridges, spaced c. 3-4m apart, probably medieval or early post-medieval in date. Two other episodes of plough cultivation were noted in this area to SE of the friary precinct wall. A number of other discrete linear features to S of the friary may also be related to agricultural activity, such as drainage ditches (Dowling 2015, 7-8).

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 15 June 2020

References

Dowling, G. 2015 Geophysical investigations at Moyne Abbey, Co. Mayo. Report compiled for The Discovery Programme. License no.: 15R119

Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N. 1970 (Reprint 1988) Medieval religious houses of Ireland. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.