Church

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 504. Early Christian monastery founded by St. Canoc in 492. The wall footings of a medieval church was discovered during an excavation carried out in the late 1930's (Kendrick 1939, 1-20). This church was the site of a mound (OF014-029007-) prior to excavation. Most of the cross-slabs which date from the 8th/11th-centuries (Harbison 1970, 206) came from this excavated area. 200 decorated slabs were discovered during this excavation and are described by Kendrick (1939, 1-20).

Archaeological testing was carried out under licence no. 03E0202 on a proposed development site in the grounds of Gallen Priory Nursing Home, Ferbane, Co. Offaly, on 24-25 February 2003. The north edge of the site is within the area of constraint around ecclesiastical remains. Testing comprised the mechanical excavation of four trenches, varying from 30 to 100m in length. The stratigraphy comprised grey/brown sandy silt topsoil (0.4m deep) overlying yellow/brown and grey/white silty sand subsoil. Areas of grey fine to medium sand and grey coarse sand, gravel and cobbles were encountered across the tested area. A number of relatively modern features, including two sand pits and an old track/road, marked on OS 6-inch maps, were uncovered. Five further shallow features were found to be of probable post-medieval or early modern date. One of these yielded several small red-brick fragments and a potsherd, suggesting a 19th-century date. All are cut into sand, and gravel deposits may be broadly contemporary (Excavations Bulletin 2003).
Dominic Delany, Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 27 April 2009

References

Kendrick, T.D. 1939 Gallen priory: excavations 1934-5. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 69, 1-20.

Harbison, P. 1970 Guide to the national monuments in the Republic of Ireland. Dublin. Gill and Macmillan.