could be harnessed and a tide mill was constructed.
Excavations have uncovered a sequence of three
mills here, the first built in C.E. 619 and the third in
- Structural oak timbers, which survived in the
waterlogged conditions, provided the precise dendro-
chronological (tree-ring) dates. One of the most
extraordinary mill sites in the country is that located
close to the small monastic site on High Island off
County Galway, where a small lake served as the
millpond as was also the case at nearby Inishbofin
where Colman, famed for his part in the Paschal
Controversy, settled with his followers from Britain
after the Synod of Whitby (664 C.E.).
Barns for the storage of corn must also have been
an essential feature on these sites, along with the corn-
drying kilns that have been found during excavation
and would have been essential for drying the grain
prior to milling. Smaller amounts of grain could have
been ground with rotary quern stones (hand mills),
which are commonly found. Animal bones, resulting
from the eating of meat, are usually found in the occu-
pation deposits and samples studied from Clonmac-
noise show parallels with urban rather than rural sites.
These settlements were also production, trade, and
market centers.
CONLETH MANNING
References and Further Reading
Bradley, John. “The monastic Town of Clonmacnoise.” In
Clonmacnoise Studies Volume 1: Seminar Papers 1994,
edited by Heather A. King. Dublin: Dúchas The Heritage
Service, 1998.
Doherty, Charles. “The Monastic Town in Early Medieval
Ireland.” In The Comparative History of Urban Origins in
non-Roman Europe, edited by Harold B. Clarke and Anngret
Simms. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1985.
McErlean, Thomas. “Tidal Power in the Seventh and Eighth
CenturiesA.D.” Archaeology Ireland15, No. 2 (Summer
2001): 10−14.
Manning, Conleth. Early Irish Monasteries. Dublin: Country
House, 1995.
Norman, E. R. and J. K. R. St. Joseph. The Early Development
of Irish Society: The Evidence of Aerial Photography.
Cambridge: The University Press, 1969.
Swan, Leo. “Enclosed Ecclesiastical Sites and their Relevance
to Settlement Patterns of the First Millennium A.D.” InLand-
scape Archaeology in Ireland, BAR British Series 116, edited
by Terence Reeves-Smyth and Fred Hammond. Oxford:
British Archaeological Reports, 1983.
. “Monastic Proto-towns in Early Medieval Ireland: The
Evidence of Aerial Photography, Plan Analysis and Survey.”
InThe Comparative History of Urban Origins in non-Roman
Europe, edited by Harold B. Clarke and Anngret Simms.
Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, 1985.
See alsoArchaeology; Burials; Craftwork;
Ecclesiastical Organization; High Crosses; Houses;
Parish Churches, Cathedrals
ECCLESIASTICAL SITES
The old model for understanding the organization of the
early Irish church was that the system introduced by the
early missionaries such as Patrick was based on bishops,
but that after a couple of centuries monasteries became
dominant and remained so up until the twelfth-century
reform. In recent years this model has been challenged
and it is now argued that bishops retained considerable
authority within the church right through this period.
The large monastic sites were certainly powerful enti-
ties but were not just monasteries in the modern under-
standing of the word. There were monks, priests, and
ecclesiastics of one sort or another, but there was also a
large dependent lay population consisting of estate work-
ers, servants, monastic tenants, craftsmen, and traders as
well as important ecclesiastical families. Also, it is clear
that not all churches were monastic and that there were
different classes of ecclesiastical sites such as bishop’s
churches, churches associated with families or tuatha,
dependent churches, hermitages, and so forth.
Most early ecclesiastical sites appear to have had a
large circular or oval enclosure around them. Most of
these sites are marked today by a modern cemetery,
usually taking up only a small part of the original enclo-
sure, and a church, usually ruined and dating from the
later medieval period. In the case of very important sites,
remains of Romanesque or earlier churches can survive.Churches
Very little is known about the earliest churches con-
structed in Ireland except that they were built of perish-
able materials: either timber, post and wattle, or clay.Reask Stone, Co. Kerry. © Department of the Environment,
Heritage and Local Government, Dublin.ECCLESIASTICAL SETTLEMENTS