EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Mayo
Inishkea North, Co. Mayo
Early Medieval Ecclesiastical Settlement.
Grid Ref: F57002253 (057009/322530)
SMR No: MA023-014001-6
Excavation Licence: N/A
Excavation Duration/Year: June 1938.
Site Director: F. Henry (University College Dublin).
The site consists of a small ecclesiastical community based around a stone-built church to St.
Columkille, to the south-east of the island (Fig. 219). Three mounds (known locally as
‘baileys’) were located in this area, and these were the subject of investigation over a number
of seasons.
St. Columkille’s church is located on the highest point of the island. This is a rectangular drystone-walled
structure, with an interior space 4.8m by 3.6m in area. The lack of corbelling
suggests that the structure must have had a timber roof. A number of potential structures,
possibly associated with the church, are located in a neighbouring field. A surface search of a
raised circular platform uncovered a number of cross-inscribed stone slabs, presumably
relating to burials of the monastic community.
Aside from these ecclesiastical features, three corbelled, stone-built houses were excavated
(Fig. 220). The foundations for these appear to have been dug into existing sand dunes. A
skeleton - aligned east-west - was found buried beneath House C, and a similarly orientated
skeleton was found just outside it. Finds included a dagger and several other pieces of iron; a
bone bead; a bone comb; a bone spindle-whorl; and fragments of the scapula of an adult
whale which appears to have been used as a chopping block. Finds from House B were later
and included three silver pennies of Henry II/Richard I (i.e. late-twelfth century).
Unlike Houses B and C, which have a beehive profile, House A was rectangular in shape. It
was also more flimsily built that the other two. Finds included an iron knife; a whale-bone
disc; three bone pins; and a broken quernstone.
A possible forge was identified, but not fully excavated. Large numbers of iron clinker was
recovered from this area. Later excavations uncovered mounds of broken Nucella (Purpura)
lapillus (dog-whelk) shells, both in rubbish heaps, and also within a structure which must
have been used as a dye-house.
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