Gallen Abbey — Gallen

Situated on a slight rise with river to the E. The ecclesiastical remains consist of an medieval church (OF014-029008-), early Christian cross-slabs (OF014-029003-), graveyard (OF014-029002-) and a bullaun stone (OF014-029005-). The Abbey which was built near the site of an Early Christian monastery founded by St. Canoc in 492 is now in a ruinous condition consisting of a long rectangular church (ext. dims. 23.9m E-W; 8.4m N-S; wall T 0.8m) built with roughly coursed limestone rubble with no architectural features evident. There is a N transept now blocked at the E end of the N wall (int. 7.5m N-S; 4.4m E-W; wall T 0.8m) with a destroyed window in the N gable. The interior of the abbey and sacristy are used as burial plots with a burial vault added to the W end of the S wall. There were several architectural fragments lying in the collapsed rubble along the walls of the church. The date of this church probably belongs to the 15th-century as mentioned by Armstrong (1908) who assigned such a date via the flamboyant E window which was recently destroyed by workers during recent graveyard clean up. The Early Christian cross-slabs are described by Lionard (1961 Vol. 61, 95-169) and are on display in a field to the N of the abbey on the site of a small 11th/13th-century church discovered during excavations by Kendrick in 1934-35. A small graveyard (OF014-029002-) was associated with the long rectangular church (ext. 71ft E-W; 24ft N-S ) which had a small rectangular sacristy (int. 7.5ft N-S; 16ft E-W) attached to its NE corner. Most of the cross-slabs (OF014-029003-) which date from the 8th/11th-centuries (Harbison 1970, 206) came from this excavated area. 200 decorated slabs were discovered during this excavation and are described by Kendrick (1939 Vol. 69, 1-20). (Cooke 1875, 340-43; Macalister 1908, 323-27; Crawford 1913, 262-5; Crawford 1918, 178; Fanning and O hEailidhe 1980, 17-19). Archaeological testing was carried out under licence no. 03E0202 on a proposed development site in the grounds of Gallen Priory Nursing Home, Ferbane, Co. Offaly, on 24-25 February 2003. The north edge of the site is within the area of constraint around ecclesiastical remains. Testing comprised the mechanical excavation of four trenches, varying from 30 to 100m in length. The stratigraphy comprised grey/brown sandy silt topsoil (0.4m deep) overlying yellow/brown and grey/white silty sand subsoil. Areas of grey fine to medium sand and grey coarse sand, gravel and cobbles were encountered across the tested area. A number of relatively modern features, including two sand pits and an old track/road, marked on OS 6-inch maps, were uncovered. Five further shallow features were found to be of probable post-medieval or early modern date. One of these yielded several small red-brick fragments and a potsherd, suggesting a 19th-century date. All are cut into sand, and gravel deposits may be broadly contemporary (Excavations Bulletin 2003). Dominic Delany, Unit 3, Howley Court, Oranmore, Co. Galway. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 27 April 2009