What is recorded here

Abbey Grey Fort is a preserved ecclesiastical enclosure in County Galway, identified in a 1574 list as Monaster Leve. Its earthen bank and external fosse still define a subcircular space holding a church site, graveyard and bullaun. Field boundaries now cut across the interior, yet the entrance at east-southeast and the separate togher mentioned by Knox keep the old layout recognizable.

In level grassland surrounded on three sides by bogland. According to Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 363, also 372), this is an early site. Knox (1903, 293) suggests that it was called 'Kilmorenetogher'. However, the OS Letters' (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 118) rendering of the name, 'Mainisteair na Liatha', corresponds well with the 'Monaster Leve' mentioned in a list of Galway monasteries made in 1574 (Nolan 1901b, 123). What is visible is an overgrown but well-preserved subcircular enclosure (N-S 210m, E-W c. 190m) defined by an earthen bank and external fosse. There is an entrance at ESE. A number of field boundaries cut the monument. Centrally placed within the interior is the site of an ecclesiastical building (GA033-050001-) and a graveyard. A bullaun lies c. 40m to SE of the latter just inside the bank of the enclosure. Knox (ibid.) noted the existence of 'a togher close by', but its location is unclear. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). Date of upload: 05 August 2010

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