Inishmurray: Monks and Pilgrims in an Atlantic Landscape

Jerry O’Sullivan and Tomás Ó Carragáin
INISHMURRAY: MONKS AND PILGRIMS IN AN ATLANTIC LANDSCAPE. VOLUME 1: ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND EXCAVATION 1997-2000.
Collins Press, Cork, 2008. Pp 406, 96 pls. + 72 figs. Price €49.95 (hbk). ISBN 978-19051724.

The visitor hoping to observe the island of Inishmurray from the coast of Sligo Bay relies both on the calmness of the sea and the clarity of the day. Rising to a high point of just 21m above sea level, when the right conditions prevail the island appears as a short black line on the horizon, but is all too often be obscured by a low sea mist or high sea. It is the low-lying nature of the island, and the threat of the ever encroaching sea on some of its monuments that led to the inception of Inishmurray: Monks and Pilgrims in an Atlantic Landscape, the first in a series of volumes sponsored by the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, that is to be followed by volumes on the early medieval cross-slabs, the vernacular architecture and social history and the flora and fauna of the island.

This text documents the archaeological survey and excavations carried out on the island between 1997-2000, instigated due to concerns about coastal erosion and the potential environmental and human threats to both the monuments and the rich collection of early Christian carved stone on the island. As such, it represents the first comprehensive survey of the site since the work of William Wakeman, first published in this Journal in 1886. The resulting volume is presented in five quite distinct parts: a general introduction to the island; a survey of its ecclesiastical history; results of the archaeological survey; accounts of the archaeological excavations carried out on the island between 1997 and 2000 and an analytical chapter dealing with the interpretation of the ecclesiastical landscape.

At its core, the documentation of the archaeological survey carried out between 1998 and 1999 is exemplary in its thoroughness, recording the extent of standing ecclesiastical remains and carved stones and cross referring back to earlier accounts of the island’s monastic remains. What becomes apparent is the happy (and somewhat surprising) degree to which most of the portable carved stone survived more or less in situ on the island until its recent removal for safekeeping to the island Schoolhouse, where it is now protected from the rigours of the weather and from theft. Like most inventories, this is not the most riveting of reads, except perhaps for the expert seeking very specific information on particular monuments. However, it is arguably one of the most important parts of the text. Throughout the volume analysis of the fabric is qualified by the caveat that practically no records were kept of works carried out to the monuments during the 1890s by the Board of Works, making it difficult to definitively date some of the work, in particular in the dry stone cashel and leachta. The creation, in published hard copy, of descriptive text and detailed drawings of a 1998-9 ‘baseline’ survey will therefore provide an invaluable guide both to future scholars and caretakers of the island’s heritage, providing a clear picture of how things were prior to most of this latest round of excavation and conservation works.

In her foreword to the volume, Heather King notes the necessarily destructive impact that archaeology can often have as a means to reconstructing the past, and the descriptions of the archaeology that took place at six different locations on the island help to reinforce the value of both this and the previous chapter. The most comprehensive work related to the leacht at Trahanreear, which was fully excavated prior to its removal and reconstruction at a further distance from the cliff edge, revealing a post hole that suggests a wooden precursor to the stone altar here. Excavations at five further sites - Laghta Patrick, Templenaman, Fál an Mhuilinn, Relickoran and, Ollamurray – were carried out in order to properly record monuments that were obviously being impacted by erosion and to conduct some soil sampling at the recently identified mill site at Fál an Mhuilinn. Accounts of all excavations are well-illustrated laid out in a clear manner, including tabulated finds analysis.

Having provided a brief introduction to the island, its history and setting at the beginning of the text, the final chapter returns to a more discursive mode and explores the pilgrimage context of the island. Drawing the archaeological evidence presented in the previous chapters together with textual and folkloric sources, the authors examine the most likely origins of the pilgrimage tradition on Inishmurray and the manner in which it may have evolved over generations. They conclude that pilgrimage activities appear to have been in place on the island certainly by the beginning of the last millennium. The form which ritual practice might have taken must ultimately remain in the realm of speculation, however, textual sources and practical concerns are considered in an attempt to understand the devotional activity that brought about the particular pilgrimage landscape at Inishmurray. Of particular significance both in the context of this monastic site, and numerous sites like it, is the authors’ reminder that just as such practices are unlikely to have remained unchanged over time, so too the structures upon which they were focussed are likely also to have been altered, in particular during the later medieval and early modern periods.

Inishmurray: Monks and Pilgrims in an Atlantic Landscape provides a well-illustrated record of the archaeology of this Atlantic island and provides a scholarly analysis of the broader context of its monuments and the ritual activities that led to their creation. Anyone interested in the archaeology of early Christian Ireland will be well-rewarded by reading this volume.

RACHEL MOSS