Seavog Mountain Pilgrim Road Archaeological Survey
Dublin Core
Title
Seavog Mountain Pilgrim Road Archaeological Survey
Subject
Lough Derg--Station Island--Archaeological survey
Description
It is traditionally believed that a monastic settlement (DG0101-001001/005-) was founded on Saints Island in the fifth century by St. Patrick who installed Dabheoc as the first abbot. The original monastic settlement is believed to have been located on Saint's (formerly St. Dabheog's) Island. The chief concern of the monastery was to minister to the needs of the pilgrimages to the cave, known as St. Patrick's Purgatory, on nearby Station Island. Some sources suggest that the original cave had been located on Saint's Island and that the pilgrimage was later transferred to its present location (Leslie 1961, 9-10). The Lough Derg pilgrimage was famous throughout Europe in the middle ages and a large literature grew up around it (Curtayne 1962, 160-62). An ancient roadway to the pilgrimage site from the village of Pettigo passes Rathnacross ringfort (DG105-002-) and Templecarn old church and burial ground (DG105-003001/002/003-).
The roadway continues to a point on the SW shore of the lake where a wooden bridge (DG101-002-) connected it to Saint's Island. Natural boulders projecting from the lake may be the remains of the supports for this bridge.
The roadway was described in 1981 as 'This portion of the Ancient Road to Lough Derg skirts the shore. It is now in part a forestry road with forest bordering it along the S-SW' (SMR File 1981). This road appears to have been a pilgrims road connecting Saints Island on Lough Derg containing St Dabheoc's Monastery (DG0101-001005-) with the village of Pettigo located 8km to the SE. A wooden bridge (DG101-002-) depicted on the first edition of the OS 6-inch map as 'Ancient Wooden Br.' connected the roadway from the shore to Saints Island on Lough Derg. A second portion of this roadway located in the townland of Carn was described in 1981 as 'This part of the ancient roadway is now under afforestation with the exception of c. 150m adjoining the house marked on the O. S. map. Here there is a trackway c. 3m wide and bounded by a field wall on the South and a low wall c. 60cms high (and partly obscured by rising turf) on the Northern perimeter. The roadway then turned southwards (23B) on Map, and led via Carn Graveyard [DG105-003003] to Pettigo' (SMR File 1981). In 1879 this roadway was described as 'we have ample evidence to satisfy us that a substantial roadway led to this secluded retreat even during that remote period, when, as we know, the fame of the Purgatory attracted pilgrims form the most distant lands. Remains of this ancient causeway, called by O'Donovan a via strata, can still be distinctly discerned, and are marked upon the maps of the Ordnance Survey. At the present day the entire coourse of this road cannot be traced, owing to the fact that it has been disused for two or three hundred years during which period heath and peat have accumulated over where it led through the mountains; and, where its way along the western shore of the lake, the waves, even more effectively, have destroyed almost every vestige of it. Traces of this roadway can be clearly observed on the summit of Portneillinmore hill (which rises close to Saints Island), also in a few places along the shore of the lake, particularly at Portcreevy bay, where it quitted the shore of the lake, and led on through a mountain valley towards Templecarne and Pettigo. From the main route a branch line led off to where the present wooden bridge spans the Owenea river, and on by Tamlaght to the Termon Cross on Drumawark hill. At certain parts of this roadway, I have been informed, on the cutting away of the overlying surface of the peat, large stepping stones, arranged in regular order, have been brought to light, thus confirming the name by which O'Donovan terms it, viz., a via strata' (O'Connor 1879 62-3).
The roadway continues to a point on the SW shore of the lake where a wooden bridge (DG101-002-) connected it to Saint's Island. Natural boulders projecting from the lake may be the remains of the supports for this bridge.
The roadway was described in 1981 as 'This portion of the Ancient Road to Lough Derg skirts the shore. It is now in part a forestry road with forest bordering it along the S-SW' (SMR File 1981). This road appears to have been a pilgrims road connecting Saints Island on Lough Derg containing St Dabheoc's Monastery (DG0101-001005-) with the village of Pettigo located 8km to the SE. A wooden bridge (DG101-002-) depicted on the first edition of the OS 6-inch map as 'Ancient Wooden Br.' connected the roadway from the shore to Saints Island on Lough Derg. A second portion of this roadway located in the townland of Carn was described in 1981 as 'This part of the ancient roadway is now under afforestation with the exception of c. 150m adjoining the house marked on the O. S. map. Here there is a trackway c. 3m wide and bounded by a field wall on the South and a low wall c. 60cms high (and partly obscured by rising turf) on the Northern perimeter. The roadway then turned southwards (23B) on Map, and led via Carn Graveyard [DG105-003003] to Pettigo' (SMR File 1981). In 1879 this roadway was described as 'we have ample evidence to satisfy us that a substantial roadway led to this secluded retreat even during that remote period, when, as we know, the fame of the Purgatory attracted pilgrims form the most distant lands. Remains of this ancient causeway, called by O'Donovan a via strata, can still be distinctly discerned, and are marked upon the maps of the Ordnance Survey. At the present day the entire coourse of this road cannot be traced, owing to the fact that it has been disused for two or three hundred years during which period heath and peat have accumulated over where it led through the mountains; and, where its way along the western shore of the lake, the waves, even more effectively, have destroyed almost every vestige of it. Traces of this roadway can be clearly observed on the summit of Portneillinmore hill (which rises close to Saints Island), also in a few places along the shore of the lake, particularly at Portcreevy bay, where it quitted the shore of the lake, and led on through a mountain valley towards Templecarne and Pettigo. From the main route a branch line led off to where the present wooden bridge spans the Owenea river, and on by Tamlaght to the Termon Cross on Drumawark hill. At certain parts of this roadway, I have been informed, on the cutting away of the overlying surface of the peat, large stepping stones, arranged in regular order, have been brought to light, thus confirming the name by which O'Donovan terms it, viz., a via strata' (O'Connor 1879 62-3).
Creator
Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien
Source
Archaeological Survey of Ireland
Publisher
National Monuments Service, Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Ireland
Date
21 October 2010
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence
Format
Archaological survey summary
Language
English
Identifier
DD_0288
Abstract
Class: Road - road/trackway
Townland: CARN (Pettigoe ED), PORTCREEVY, SAINTS ISLAND ,SEADAVOG MOUNTAIN
Scheduled for inclusion in the next revision of the RMP: Yes
Townland: CARN (Pettigoe ED), PORTCREEVY, SAINTS ISLAND ,SEADAVOG MOUNTAIN
Scheduled for inclusion in the next revision of the RMP: Yes
References
DG101-003
Citation
Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien , “Seavog Mountain Pilgrim Road Archaeological Survey,” Digital Derg: A Deep Map, accessed April 26, 2024, https://digitalderg.eu/items/show/308.