Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

An arc of a field boundary (C c. 80m) S-N indicated on the 1942-3 OS 6-inch map is probably the remains of the ecclesiastical enclosure surrounding Carrowntemple church and graveyard (SL044-056001-; SL044-056002-). This earth and stone bank (Wth 3-6.6m) survives to a maximum height of 2.5m (Wallace and Timoney 1987, 45). The modern graveyard extending E and S from the old graveyard, which surrounds the church, has removed any trace of the E and SE arcs of the enclosure and a section at NW arc was removed in 1982 (ibid.). According to M. A. Timoney (2002a, 141), this inner enclosure is surrounded by a roughly concentric outer enclosure. The outer enclosure (diam. c. 350m) is preserved in the field boundaries to the S, SW and N of the graveyard (Wallace and Timoney 1987, 45). Two adjacent chambers of a souterrain (SL044-056003-), c. 20m to NW of the graveyard, are within the enclosure. A second souterrain (SL044-056007-) lies c. 150m to W of the graveyard and immediately outside the area of the ecclesiastical enclosure.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005).

Date of upload: 18 January 2008