Staad Abbey — Agharrow

Located on a slight elevation surrounded by damp, lowlying coastal pasture, overlooking a small rocky bay. Inishmurray Island is visible c. 6km offshore to NW. The eroding land-edge cliff face, bordering a cobble beach, is located c. 6-10m N of the church. This ruined, roofless medieval church is rectangular in plan (12.2m ESE−WNW, 5.1m NNE−SSW) with walls of undressed mortared rubble. The E gable (H c. 4.5m; T c. 1m) stands to full height, and contains a single, narrow light (ext. Wth 0.2m) with a broadly slayed internal embrasure (Wth c. 1m). The other three walls are reduced to a few courses only (max. H c. 1m). There is a record of a recess (Wth c. 0.55; H c. 0.43m; D 0.43m) at the E end of the S wall (Wakeman, 1893; OPW topographical Files). A rubble-filled gap towards the W end of the S wall is a possible location for a doorway. Stone rubble is strewn through the interior and surrounds the exterior. A possible graveyard (SL005-022005-) is located immediately to E of the church, and low banks, c. 30m to E and S of the church, may represent an outer enclosure (SL005-022007-) or boundary to the settlement. The church is named ‘Staad Abbey’on the 1837 and 1912 OS maps, and is known as ‘Teampull’ in local tradition. It is late medieval in date, but may have been built to replace an earlier church: Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 405) suggest that there was an early Christian monastic settlement here, its foundation attributed to St. Molaise of Inishmurray. Though no remains of an explicitly ecclesiastical nature have been found to confirm this, the presence of a souterrain (SL005-022002-) a few meters to NW of the church, and the excavated remnants of a house (SL005-022009-) points to a phase of early medieval settlement. A substantial midden (SL005-022004-), located immediately to N of the church, also indicates a long period of settlement at the site. The upper levels of the midden, radiocarbon dated to between the 15th-17th centuries, are likely to be contemporary with the use of the present church. A limekiln (SL005-022008-), located c. 10m to N of the church, may have been used to produce the lime mortar used in the church’s construction (McCormick and O’Sullivan et al. 2000, 27). A strong link to Inishmurray Island is preserved in local tradition: This sees Staad serving as a staging post for monks, pilgrims and other travellers en route to the monastic settlement (SL001-001001-) on Inishmurray. The church has also been postulated as a candidate for a church at which Captain de Cuellar, a survivor of a Spanish Armada ship wrecked at Streedagh, sought refuge; however, this has not been confirmed. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 4 July 2017