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180 Fiona Beglane and Jerr y O’Sullivan Table 1—Staad Abbey, Co. Sligo: longitudinal erosion study sources and records. Year Sources and records 1655–6 William Petty’s Down Survey maps (Trinity College Dublin). Staad and environs is shown as ‘mere sandy hills’. The church is not depicted and may have been under sanddunes at that time. 1837; 1910 Ordnance Survey first- and second-edition six-inch maps. A ruined church, ‘Staad Abbey’, with no associated enclosure or burial-ground, is shown among modern fields by a rocky foreshore on early Ordnance Survey maps. 1880; 1893 William Wakeman Collection (Sligo County Library); Inishmurray monograph (Wakeman 1893 [1892]). 1993 A watercolour and ink drawing of the ruined church shows the same ruined gable that survives today. Wakeman’s Inishmurray monograph includes a note on Staad and associated traditions. Coastal middens survey (Bentley and McCormick, 1993 and 1994). 1999 A radiocarbon-dated midden sample from animal bone returned a later medieval date range. An outline survey (tripod-mounted EDM) recorded the cliff edge and church. Photography (O’Sullivan). General photographic record of the site and environs. 2000–1 Archaeological investigations (McCormick and O’Sullivan, 2000 and 2001; GeoArc Ltd, 2000). 2005 A short programme of investigations over two seasons included a photographic survey of the ruined church, the eroding cliff face and their general setting; geophysical survey (resistivity and magnetic gradiometry); hand-measured building survey of the church; topographic survey (tripod-mounted EDM) of the church, shore and immediate environs; recording and sampling of middens and other features in the cliff face; and small-scale excavation of two cuttings by the church and on the cliff top. Photography (T. Cummins, University College Dublin). 2007 2012 Photographic record of the eroding cliff face during postgraduate work in geology. Photography (O’Sullivan). Photographic record of the eroding cliff face. Archaeological survey (O’Sullivan and Beglane). Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs; hand-measured drawn resurvey of middens and other features in the eroding cliff face; topographic resurvey (tripod-mounted EDM) of the church, shore and environs. 2014 2015 2016 2017 2020 Archaeological survey (O’Sullivan and Beglane). Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs.Topographic resurvey (tripod-mounted EDM) of the shoreline. Photography (Beglane). Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs. Photographic survey (O’Sullivan and Beglane); aerial survey (Paul Naessens,Western Aerial Survey). Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs; high-resolution ortho-rectified aerial photography and digital surface model (drone survey) (Paul Naessens of Western Aerial Survey). Photography and excavation (Beglane). Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs; excavation of wooden stakes and platforms in the peat deposits. Archaeological survey (Beglane). Topographic resurvey (survey-grade GPS) of the shoreline.
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A vanishing medieval church site on Ireland’s Atlantic coast 181 Fig. 4—Staad Abbey, Co. Sligo, February 2015. Note the scoured nature of the section face and the mass of seaweed deposited by storms; compare with Fig. 2 (photograph courtesy of Ciaran Davis). themselves to monitoring the site and periodically resurveying the cliff edge (Table 1).This present paper incorporates results up to the most recent resurvey, in March 2020. The study has incorporated both existing and new sources of information and the methodology has been adapted as new technologies have become available. The initial desk-based assessment of existing data relied on the first (1837) and third (1940s) editions of the Ordnance Survey six-inch maps and the 25-inch map (1910). To this were added scanned images of the tripod-mounted EDM surveys of the cliff edge and church made by Bentley and McCormick in 1993 and again by McCormick and O’Sullivan in 2000 and 2001.The site was resurveyed in 2012 and 2014 by the present writers, again using a tripod-mounted EDM. The year 2016 saw the production of high-resolution ortho-rectified aerial photography and, importantly, the production of a three-dimensional digital surface model, using a drone operated by Paul Naessens of Western Aerial Survey.This captured a detailed view of the cliff edge and church, and also of the topography of the land. Finally, in 2020 the cliff edge was assessed using survey-grade GPS. Results were processed using ArcGIS 10.6. For the historic maps and the earlier surveys, results were based on aligning the depicted walls of the chapel and then using this to recreate the cliff edge at that point in time. By contrast, results from 2012 onwards were digitally recorded and the data have been incorporated into the ArcGIS database. Coastal environments are not static. They are complex, non-linear dynamic systems, with continual movement of stones, sand and vegetation, and both net deposition and net erosion can occur (Woodroffe 2007). The section face in the cliff at Staad is periodically revealed and concealed by natural events. Repeated visits to the site over almost 30 years have found it either obscured by slumped material sprouting new grass or freshly scoured by the sea, fully exposing the archaeological stratigraphy (compare Figs 2 and 4). The souterrain and lime clamp were large, distinctive features and provide good examples of how much damage is occurring. As first identified in 2000, the lime clamp was a large, bowl-shaped pit lined with stone (Fig. 5). There were burnt sediments in the fills, and the sides were scorched by the heat that is generated when roasted crushed limestone is slaked in water to make lime putty for construction work. In 2005 and 2007 the clamp was still recognisable and largely intact. In 2012 it was partly obscured by grassy sod formed on slumped soils. By September 2014 the section face had been scoured clean by the sea and only a few of the side stones and some dark fill remained. By 2016 the feature was only visible as an area of dark soil containing a bed of heat-fired clay, and by 2020 it had entirely eroded away.The souterrain followed a similar

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180 Fiona Beglane and Jerr y O’Sullivan

Table 1—Staad Abbey, Co. Sligo: longitudinal erosion study sources and records.

Year

Sources and records

1655–6 William Petty’s Down Survey maps (Trinity College Dublin).

Staad and environs is shown as ‘mere sandy hills’. The church is not depicted and may have been under sanddunes at that time.

1837; 1910 Ordnance Survey first- and second-edition six-inch maps.

A ruined church, ‘Staad Abbey’, with no associated enclosure or burial-ground, is shown among modern fields by a rocky foreshore on early Ordnance Survey maps.

1880; 1893 William Wakeman Collection (Sligo County Library); Inishmurray monograph (Wakeman 1893 [1892]).

1993

A watercolour and ink drawing of the ruined church shows the same ruined gable that survives today. Wakeman’s Inishmurray monograph includes a note on Staad and associated traditions.

Coastal middens survey (Bentley and McCormick, 1993 and 1994).

1999

A radiocarbon-dated midden sample from animal bone returned a later medieval date range. An outline survey (tripod-mounted EDM) recorded the cliff edge and church.

Photography (O’Sullivan).

General photographic record of the site and environs.

2000–1 Archaeological investigations (McCormick and O’Sullivan, 2000 and 2001; GeoArc Ltd, 2000).

2005

A short programme of investigations over two seasons included a photographic survey of the ruined church, the eroding cliff face and their general setting; geophysical survey (resistivity and magnetic gradiometry); hand-measured building survey of the church; topographic survey (tripod-mounted EDM) of the church, shore and immediate environs; recording and sampling of middens and other features in the cliff face; and small-scale excavation of two cuttings by the church and on the cliff top.

Photography (T. Cummins, University College Dublin).

2007

2012

Photographic record of the eroding cliff face during postgraduate work in geology.

Photography (O’Sullivan).

Photographic record of the eroding cliff face.

Archaeological survey (O’Sullivan and Beglane).

Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs; hand-measured drawn resurvey of middens and other features in the eroding cliff face; topographic resurvey (tripod-mounted EDM) of the church, shore and environs.

2014

2015

2016

2017

2020

Archaeological survey (O’Sullivan and Beglane).

Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs.Topographic resurvey (tripod-mounted EDM) of the shoreline.

Photography (Beglane).

Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs.

Photographic survey (O’Sullivan and Beglane); aerial survey (Paul Naessens,Western Aerial Survey).

Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs; high-resolution ortho-rectified aerial photography and digital surface model (drone survey) (Paul Naessens of Western Aerial Survey).

Photography and excavation (Beglane).

Photographic record of the church, cliff face and environs; excavation of wooden stakes and platforms in the peat deposits.

Archaeological survey (Beglane).

Topographic resurvey (survey-grade GPS) of the shoreline.

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