UCD School of Archaeology investigations in Kings River Valley
In recent years, UCD School of Archaeology has established a landscape archaeology project exploring aspects of long-term settlement and landscape history in the Kings River Valley, in the west Wicklow mountains. As part of this project, UCD School of Archaeology has also carried out two seasons (in 2004/2005) of archaeological excavations on a medieval church enclosure at Templeteenaun, supported through a grant provided by the Royal Irish Academy National Committee for Archaeology.
These excavations have both a research agenda and an educational one. They aim to provide UCD undergraduate students with a range of practical surveying and excavation skills. Through 2nd year and 3rd year, students spend time looking at maps, aerial photographs, they describe and survey archaeological sites, they work on the archaeological excavation and finally, they prepare an excavation report and site diary, that enable them to understand and practice the principles of landscape archaeological research.
Journeying to the past
In the Middle Ages, pilgrimage to holy places was a phenomenon of significance right across the Christian, Jewish and Islamic worlds. In western Christendom, the faithful would set out on long journeys to Jerusalem, Rome and Santiago de Compostela, seeking to atone for sins, to pray for relatives or simply because of curiosity and a desire to see the world. However, at various times, people would also go on pilgrimage to local holy centres – such as Canterbury, Lough Derg and Glenalough, the famous medieval monastery nestled in a hidden valley in the Wicklow mountains. The Kings River valley, in west Wicklow is today the main routeway across these mountains. It has probably been the way of crossing these mountains since earliest times.The medieval pilgrims’ Saint Kevin’s Road
During the Middle Ages, an important pilgrims’ road known as St. Kevin’s Road ran through this part of the mountains and on to Glendalough. This road is often associated with the sixth century St. Kevin but is likely to actually date to sometime later in the Medieval period. The well-known Wicklow antiquary, Liam Price, established one likely route for this road, but doubtless it changed across time and reflected the direction from which pilgrims were coming. However, as locally known, the road is still visible as a stone-paved track across the Wicklow Gap, where it was investigated in 1972 by the National Museum of Ireland (revealing an undated road constructed of granite flag stones laid directly on peat). Recent UCD School of Archaeology excavations on the road at Brockagh have also revealed new evidence for this routeway.
There are also probable associated early medieval monuments along the alignment of Kevins Road. The most famous is the ‘Hollywood Stone’ formerly situated at Lockstown, c.3 miles to the east of Templeteenaun (and removed in the early 20th century to the National Museum of Ireland). Labyrinths were significantly associated with medieval pilgrimage, symbolising to an extent the pilgrim’s dangerous journey along treacherous routes to redemption. This stone with its incised labyrinth motif was located at a probable stopping place on the pilgrimage route, perhaps marking the confluence of routes from Hollywood and Valleymount.
There are also other medieval cross slabs in the vicinity of Kevins Way. At Woodenbridge (on the high road from Valleymount), there is a small road-side boulder that is inscribed with an early medieval Latin cross. There is an interesting and strikingly located medieval cross-inscribed pillar on a shoulder to the north of the top of Tonelagee mountain.
The Kevin’s Road probably also ran past a known archaeological site - the medieval church and enclosure situated at Templeteenaun at the top of the valley. Recent archaeological excavations on the medieval church and graveyard at Templeteenaun, in the upper part of the valley have provided both training for young archaeologists, as well as valuable insights into medieval settlement and pilgrimage in these mountains.
The medieval Templeteenaun church and enclosure
Templeteenaun itself is a remote and isolated site, located well above the level of 19th century settlement in the valley. It is located on a small hillock of fertile soils, with good views down into the Kings River valley and up towards the Wicklow Gap – the highest point of both the medieval and modern routeway across the mountains.
In terms of archaeological research on the site itself, the excavations have aimed to investigate the phasing of the site, concentrating in particular on the surrounding enclosure wall and its chronological relationships with the entrance and neighbouring field walls. They also attempted to explore the site’s social, economic and ideological function across time (i.e. an early monastic site, a medieval parish church and pilgrim’s hostel, a 19th century farmed landscape?)
Medieval church
The site comprises a medieval church located within a stone enclosure. The church is located at the north-west corner of the enclosure and survives as the lower levels of the walls of a rectangular building, oriented E-W. It has a nave (int. dims 5.2m x 3.8m) and a chancel (int. dims 2m x 2m). There is a probable gap for a doorway at the west end of the south wall. This appears to be a medieval church of simple nave-and-chancel plan, possibly dating to about the twelfth century AD.Enclosure
Surrounding the church is an irregular quadrangular enclosure (c. 40m N-S; 30m E-W), formed by low but substantial stone wall. Although varied in nature, the wall typically has an inner and outer kerb with an earthen and rubble fill with turf capping. There is an original entrance at the east, defined by a stone-lined entrance 1m in width. This enclosure is also clearly attached to other walls of similar construction that appear to be part of a field-system of unknown date on the south and east side of the site.Cairns and burials
Within the enclosure there are also several small cairn features, of mounds of stone and earth, situated near the edges of the site. There is a possible cillín graveyard in the eastern and south-eastern quadrants of the enclosure. This is clearest directly to the southeast of the church where there is a few upright hewn granite slabs that appear to have been taken from the walls of the church. These stones may be burial markers for unbaptised children, unlucky travellers or other strangers, as there is some historical and cartographic evidence that the enclosure was used as a burial groundEntrances, laneways and cairns
Archaeological excavations at various locations around the enclosure have already revealed exciting information about the Templeteenaun church and enclosure. At the entrance to the site, a laneway has been discovered leading away down the hill. This routeway would have effectively guided people towards the narrow, slab-defined entrance into the enclosure. A possible hut site or small enclosure has also been identified immediately outside the entrance. This may well prove to be a small hut, situated outside the sacred space, designed to provide shelter for pilgrims and travellers visiting the site. Similar possible pilgrim hostels have been discovered elsewhere on church sites, such as on High Island, Co. Galway.Within the enclosure, excavations have also identified an interesting stone cairn. This is a small, rectilinear mound of stone and earth, defined at its edges by granite boulders. Most excitingly perhaps, several small, fist-sized and water-rolled grantite and quartz stones have been found on the top of this cairn. These rounded stones must have been carried to the site from elsewhere, possibly from the Kings River itself at the bottom of the valley. Although these stones could well be post-medieval in origin, it is also true that white quartz stones can be found on medieval shrines and monastic sites (such as on Illaunloughan, Co. Kerry), serving perhaps as prayers and offerings (quartz has associations with purity and the eternal in Christian beliefs). It is possible that this cairn (and others on the site) is a pilgrims’ penitential station, or a leacht, like those found on western Atlantic pilgrimage sites (such as Inishmurray, Co. Sligo – amongst others). However, it might also be noted that similar cairns are also to be seen at the medieval monastic site of Glendalough, particularly on the shores of the upper lake, near Reefert church.
Medieval pottery
Medieval pottery shards, probably dating to the 13th to 14th centuries AD, have also been recovered in large amounts from a possible midden situated immediately outside the enclosure entrance. The pottery is currently being analysed by medieval pottery expert, Ms Claire McCutcheon. The pottery appears to include pieces of Leinster Cooking Ware, distinctive by tan or grey-brown colour, dark, sooty exterior and the presence of fragments of granite and mica as inclusions. Leinster Cooking Ware ranges in date from the mid-12th to the 14th century in date. It is common on medieval rural settlement sites, with sherds gathered from medieval sites at Burgage and Ballymore Eustace, on the Wicklow/Kildare border.There are also sherds of green or red-brown, glazed, hand-made and wheel-thrown pottery, which are also relatively coarse and micaeous. These may yet be identified as Dublin Wares - either McCutcheon’s Dublin-type ware or Dublin-type fine-ware. There are also a small amount of sherds with slightly different fabric and colour, some may yet prove to be imported. This medieval pottery certainly signify medieval rural settlement in the Wicklow uplands, a rare discovery in itself.
Medieval iron objects
One of the finest metal objects recovered from the possible midden outside the entrance is an iron rowel spur. This horseman’s spur is of a distinctive form (with a rowel or spiked wheel) that can be seen depicted on medieval tomb slabs (e.g. Strongbow’s tomb in Christchurch cathedral). Such objects of horse harness are also known from other medieval excavations, and it has been suggested that these types of spurs appear simultaneously around Europe at c.AD 1250 (although our find, could of course be years or many decades later).It also raises question about social status (would only a wealthy person ride a horse), social role (i.e. was this a piece of military equipment) and ethnic identity (was its owner Anglo-Norman, Gaelic Irish or an Ostmen?) – or indeed are these designations meaningful? Other iron finds appear to include nails and other possible belt or harness equipment.
Hints from the historical and placename evidence
But what of the Templeteenaun site itself? Placename and historical sources provide some hints as to the Templeteenaun site’s origins. The original Gaelic form of the anglicised name Templeteenaun (as it pronounced locally) is unclear. The 19th century’s Ordnance Survey’s Name Book records it as Templefinan, ‘a burying ground not much used’ in Ballinagee. The Ordnance Survey’s letters states that it was ‘an old burying ground not now much frequented which is called Teampall Fionain – Templefynan – signifying the Temple of S. Finan’. Oddly, the OS records of an f-sound does not equate either with local pronounciation or early versions of the name. For example, the name recorded by J.H. Delargy from a local man was Teámpall tSíonáin or Tíonán. The Wicklow antiquarian, Liam Price (who visited the site on several occasions, prepared a sketch plan in March 1938 and obtained photographs of it in September 1949) refers to the site using several different placenames; including Templefinan, Templefynan, Templeteenan, Templeteenawn and Templeteenaun.Liam Price suggested that the site’s anglicised name derived from the Gaelic Teámpall tighe Fhíonain (the church of the house of Finan). He also suggested that this was the church of one Finan, a minor associate of Saint Brigit of Kildare mentioned in some of the Lives. Another local townland name, Glenbride (i.e. Gleann Brígde) which denotes the mountain valley to the northeast certainly also implies a link at some stage with the monastic paruchiae of Kildare. It is certainly possible that our medieval church was built on an earlier site. However, an extant nave and chancel church with a southwest doorway would tend to be dated to about the twelfth century AD. It is also worth noting that the use of the word Teampall in the placename would tend to imply a relatively late date for the site; i.e. it is a word that is usually used in a post-twelfth century context.
Price also states that Archbishop Alen’s Register of early church documents, compiled about 1530-32 in referring to Haroldston, notes a place known in c.AD 1280 as Capella de Villa Harold (i.e. ‘chapel of the house of Harold’), In Archbishop Alen’s Repertorium Viride, c.1533, there is a note which claims that this was located in Temple Tinney (Templeteenaun?), and that this was the place where all the hamlets in Gralagh (i.e. Granamore, a nearby townland) and on the opposite side of the Unry (i.e. the Abhain Rí, or Kings River) heard divine service. There are also references in 1294 to Haroldstown (Calendar to Christ Church Deeds) and in 1302-6 to the ‘vill of Harold’ (Sweetman’s Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland). If these entries do refer to Templeteenaun, then this would imply that our church was in active use in the late thirteenth century AD – which would certainly fit with the pottery and iron rowel spur evidence.
Conclusions
What was the church’s role in the local and regional landscape. It may have been a church serving to provide pastoral care for local communities (and there are hints of other medieval settlements in these mountains. However, this was certainly more than just a church, it was also an isolated, medieval rural settlement located in a district known to have been on the frontline between the Gaelic Irish, the Anglo-Normans and perhaps the territories of the Ostmen of Dublin. However, it was also located on a route that threaded through these zones of conflict – the Kevins road to the monastery of Glendalough. Archaeological investigations are ongoing, but UCD School of Archaeology’s excavations may have discovered a pilgrim’s church or hostel, located to provide shelter, food and care for pilgrims walking over the Wicklow mountains in the Middle Ages, much as other people and other hostels were doing elsewhere around the medieval European and Islamic world.Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Frank Reid (Coillte), to the RIA National Committee for Archaeology, to our UCD colleagues, to Rob Sands, Blaze O’Connor and Conor McDermott, to the site supervisors Mark Gordon, Sharon Greene, Louise Nugent and Brendan Fagan, and also to the 120 enthusiastic UCD undergraduate students who have discovered the past through tape and trowel at Templeteenaun.