The Monastic Midlands Project
Described as a ‘flowering garden of monasteries’, County Offaly, in the heart of the Irish Monastic Midlands, is best known archaeologically for the number and scale of the early medieval monasteries, which to this day continue to dominate the landscape. Between the fifth and seventh centuries evangelist monks arrived in what is now County Offaly, attracted by the region’s centrality and its proximity to four of the five medieval provincial boundaries. The landscape they entered was dominated by the River Shannon as well as series of winding glacial ridges, or eskers, which collectively provided routeways through the low-lying bog landscape. The native Irish monasteries thrived, especially in the ninth to tenth centuries, but started to decline following reforms by the church from the early twelfth century. Their influence waned further following the Anglo-Norman invasion, when new European style orders were increasingly constructed beside (or over) pre-existing native monasteries.
The Project
The ‘Monastic Midlands’ Research Project was inspired by, and arose from, our long-standing relationships with Offaly County Council and several local communities in the midlands of Ireland. We have been supporting community projects in the midlands since 2017, and formalised these efforts under the umbrella of the ‘Monastic Midlands’ project in 2023. This has allowed us to support a greater range of projects and expand our community base. To date we have supported or directly undertaken archaeological research at numerous midland sites such as Seir Kieran, Killeigh, Clonoghil, Birr and Lemanaghan -to name just five.
The project is taking an holistic approach to the incredible natural and built heritage of the midlands region. It extends across a significant time period and includes several sites that continue as places of veneration. It is also multi-disciplinary, examining the geological and glacial formation of the landscape, earthworks, buildings, folklore, spirituality, artefacts and the buried remains of these spectacular sites.
Find Out More
As the project is in its infancy it is yet to generate an extensive publication history but for an example see ‘Seir Kieran. Place, pilgrimage, and tradition in the monastic midlands’ in Offaly Heritage. As the project grows a more extensive publication record will be generated. However, in the interim a large range of technical reports can be provided on request. Alternatively extensive project information is contained on 3D model galleries on our Sketchfab account.
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