Ecclesiastical enclosure in Monaincha

Situated on an island surrounded by bog, but formerly surrounded by a lake known as Lough Cré. The lake was drained by a local landowner in the nineteenth century (Joyce 1911, 20). Another monastic island with a church site (TN017-019) is located c. 450m to the W. The island itself is 104-8m E-W in diameter and contains a circular enclosure (diam. 65m N-S; c. 83m E-W) which is defined by a scarp (H 1m) in the N quadrant and a bank (Wth 3m; int. H 0.65m; ext. H 1.57m) in the SW quadrant. Elsewhere the limit of this enclosure is difficult to ascertain. The twelfth-century church (TN018-001001) lies within a raised roughly circular enclosure in the NE sector of the larger enclosure. The island is depicted on an eighteenth-century illustration by Ledwich (Stout 1984, 88). This appears to be the larger island described by Giraldus Cambrensis in the twelfth century, stating that 'no woman or animal of the female sex could ever enter the larger island without dying immediately' (O'Meara 1982, 60). The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008