- Chapter Thirty-Seven -
by the ninth century and replaced by a large outer, steep-sided rock-cut ditch (Ivens
I988: 55-6). Both may relate to monastic occupation, but this is not certain.
Large Ecclesiastical CentresMany important ecclesiastical sites (monasteria) were located close to land or water
routes, giving easy access to good communications (either close to the coast, or on
navigable rivers). Such centres from the seventh-eighth centuries possessed similar,
simple layouts - usually within a sub-circular enclosing bank (vallum) or stone wall
symbolizing the boundary between sacred and profane, and invested with properties
of sanctuary and divine protection. These were sometimes set inside earlier
enclosures, or constructed as new, occasionally rectilinear earthworks (favoured
where no other boundaries existed). The area enclosed was often organized into two
or three concentric areas, each with its own enclosing wall, for the particular needs of
the population. The church (or multiple churches in the case of larger ecclesiastical
sites) may be sited within a central enclosure (or within small separate enclosures).
Early cross-marked pillars may mark separate graves, or graves in the cemetery, an
important part of every early monastery, often positioned close to the principal
church. Such cemeteries may have served the needs of both community and local
royal and noble families. Cross-marked stones were in some areas later replaced by
more elaborate recumbent grave slabs. Some Irish monasteries were enclosed by two
or more walls, separating the inner enclosure (which often contained an abbot's
house, round tower, stone churches, cemetery and large freestanding crosses) from
the outer area, an enclosure for industrial, commercial and domestic activities, all of
which were essential for the prosperity of the community. Round towers (called
cloigtech or belfry in Irish texts) served as belfries and also for storage of valuables and
refuge in time of trouble. Most of these probably date from the tenth-twelfth
centuries, being constructed to reflect the status and wealth of monasteries, rather
than as a late response to Viking attack. The leacht, a small rectangular altar-like stone
mound occasionally marked by cross-slabs, may have been associated with the
demarcation of special graves, or served as an open-air altar, though their date is often
uncertain.
The multi-period monastery at Nendrum, Co. Down, traditionally founded by St
Mochaoi, was the subject of excavation in the I920S, and is now difficult to interpret
(Figure 37.2, no. 2). It comprises three concentric walls, the inner enclosure contain-
ing a stone church, fragmentary round tower, and cemetery. Traces of round huts
were found in the middle enclosure, and a rectangular stone building may have been
used at one time for craft activities, to judge from the finds associated with it.
Armagh is a well-documented site, with references to ecclesiastical buildings in the
annals from c. AD 800. By the eighth century it had become the paramount
ecclesiastical centre in Ireland on the assertion that St Patrick had himself designated
it as his chief centre. The first reference to a stone church here is of one in 789, and
several churches stood on the hill as well as an abbot's house, library, kitchen and
dwellings, most within an enclosure with an entrance on the east, close to a high
cross whose remains are dated to the late ninth or tenth centuries. The activity on
the hill (the Rath) was divided into three districts or thirds. Excavations within the