2008 Press Releases
Launch of monograph by UCC lecturer about Inishmurray, Co. Sligo
25.11.2008
Dr Tomás Ó Carragáin of the Archaeology Department, UCC, has co-authored a major study of the early monastery of Inishmurray, Co Sligo with NRA archaeologist Jerry O’Sullivan.
25.11.2008
Dr Tomás Ó Carragáin of the Archaeology Department, UCC, has co-authored a major study of the early monastery of Inishmurray, Co Sligo with NRA archaeologist Jerry O’Sullivan.
The book was launched in Sligo on November 17th last by Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Michael Finneran, TD.
Inishmurray: Monks and Pilgrims in an Atlantic Landscape, which is published by the Collins Press, presents the results of a comprehensive survey and programme of excavations carried out by the authors on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It also presents a detailed reassessment of the site’s significance.
Inishmurray is one of the best-preserved early medieval (c.400-1200 AD) church sites in northern Europe. Unlike many of the other church sites established on islands off the west coast of Ireland, it was not a hermitage but a monastery of some significance. Around the end of the first millennium its community built a remarkable suite of stations on the island’s perimeter that helped to establish it as one of the premier pilgrimage centres in the country.
Remarkably, the rituals associated with this pilgrimage – including outdoor processions and liturgical curses – were perpetuated, in modified form, by the modern inhabitants of the island until the 1940s. The authors place them firmly in a tradition of ritual practice that is attested to at important monasteries and cities throughout early medieval Europe.
The archaeology of Inishmurray provides us with our best evidence for early medieval ritual practice in Ireland and in doing so it illustrates the close links between Ireland and the European mainland during this period.
Pictured at the launch were: Jerry O'Sullivan (right) and Tomás Ó Carragáin (left) with Michael Finnerman TD, Minister of State for Housing Urban Renewal and Development Areas at the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government.
918MMcS
Inishmurray: Monks and Pilgrims in an Atlantic Landscape, which is published by the Collins Press, presents the results of a comprehensive survey and programme of excavations carried out by the authors on behalf of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It also presents a detailed reassessment of the site’s significance.
Inishmurray is one of the best-preserved early medieval (c.400-1200 AD) church sites in northern Europe. Unlike many of the other church sites established on islands off the west coast of Ireland, it was not a hermitage but a monastery of some significance. Around the end of the first millennium its community built a remarkable suite of stations on the island’s perimeter that helped to establish it as one of the premier pilgrimage centres in the country.
Remarkably, the rituals associated with this pilgrimage – including outdoor processions and liturgical curses – were perpetuated, in modified form, by the modern inhabitants of the island until the 1940s. The authors place them firmly in a tradition of ritual practice that is attested to at important monasteries and cities throughout early medieval Europe.
The archaeology of Inishmurray provides us with our best evidence for early medieval ritual practice in Ireland and in doing so it illustrates the close links between Ireland and the European mainland during this period.
Pictured at the launch were: Jerry O'Sullivan (right) and Tomás Ó Carragáin (left) with Michael Finnerman TD, Minister of State for Housing Urban Renewal and Development Areas at the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government.
918MMcS