Early church enclosure

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The early church enclosure ( Irish imfhálú eaglasta , English early ecclesiastical enclosure ; French enclos paroissial ) is a little-studied phenomenon in Irish , Welsh and Breton landscape that exists almost completely preserved in fragmentary form or today. In some cases, even the entire border, consisting of a ditch, rampart or wall, has survived, but often only the old outline is left, which is seen from the air as a field boundary, consisting of vegetation features or low curved earthen walls, in the otherwise linear demarcations Landscape is recognizable.

The time of origin of this Temene is indefinite and not to be confused with that of Raths and Duns and probably a subsequent use of the former in particular. Some of the early churches, including the surrounding cemeteries, are still surrounded by large, round or oval enclosures with diameters between 30 and 400 m. The enclosed areas are older and sometimes significantly larger than the built up or used early Christian complex inside, which shows that they are older.

In this way, an early Christian church, mostly only preserved as a ruin, its cemetery and the past wooden houses of a small, but often much later built village, sometimes also a small town, were enclosed. In some cases there is no real cemetery or only one without tombstones or inscriptions. Such places were used as cillin , for the burial of unbaptized children. Often there are also bullauns or holy springs within the enclosures (Canon Island and Holy Island in the River Shannon or in Lough Derg ), which indicates that the place was previously used for ritual purposes.

Ireland

Inishmurray is an uninhabited island seven kilometers off the coast of County Sligo , Ireland . A walled monastery was founded on the 1600 m long, 800 m wide and a maximum of 22 m high island in the 6th century , which is considered an example of an early church enclosure.

There are 23 such enclosures recorded in County Clare , including Ballyallaban in the Burren . Well-preserved are on Canon Island in the Shannon and the area on the eastern outskirts of Tulla, which is now only used as a cemetery . Another walled enclosure is Moyne, near Shrule , County Mayo . An urban example is the monastery grounds in Lusk (known for the round tower ) in County Fingal , where the modern road network follows the boundary of the old enclosure. Kilkieran, County Kilkenny , was excavated in 1985. There are 15 of these enclosures in County Wexford . The Kildreelig Enclosure is on the slopes of Bolus Head in County Kerry .

France

In 1989 there was a presentation of research work on villages in Languedoc ( southern France ). These villages had notable resemblances to Irish enclosures , but to date no investigation of these obvious similarities has been made.

Brittany

The enclosed parishes of Brittany did not emerge until the 16th and 17th centuries. The most important are in Argol, Bodilis, Commana, Guimiliau, Lampaul-Guilmiliau, La Martyre, Pleyben, Plougastel-Daoulas, Plougonven, Runan, Saint-Suliac, Saint-Théogonnec and Sizun.

Pembrokeshire (Wales)

Between 2002 and 2003, 154 locations in Pombrokeshire were recognized in aerial photographs and confirmed during excursions.

literature

  • Tom Condit: Ireland's archeology from the Air Dublin 1997 ISBN 0-946172-58-7
  • Maurice F. Hurley: Excavation at an Early ecclesiastical enclosure at Kilkieran, County Kilkenny . In: The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 118, 1988, 124-134.
  • L. Swan: 2.1 Ecclesiastical settlement in Ireland in the early medieval period In: Actes du IIIe congrès international d'archéologie médiévale (Aix-en-Provence, Sept. 28-30, 1989) 1994 pp. 50-56

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