Vallum: the enclosing system of early medieval monasteries: a study of eleven sites in south Co. Sligo

Abstract

This study looks at the vallum system in 11 early medieval monastic sites in south Co. Sligo and attempts to identify the vallum system through research of resources including O.S. maps, published reports and, especially, study of the landscape where the valli exist in the form of field boundaries though in many instances only as fragments. This study also describes the morphology of the vallum system and explores the symbolic significance of that morphology. The vallum system was the enclosing element and an essential part of the early medieval monastic settlement. The vallum was constructed of an earthen bank with an internal ditch of corresponding proportions or a drystone wall without a ditch. Traces only of the vallum system, particularly of the ditch, are now evident or visible on the ground, in the maps or aerial photographs. The vallum system was three-fold and consisted of three curvilinear elements enclosing areas of: the outermost sanctus (holy - for mundane activities of the monastery), sanctior (holier - for the less important monastic duties) and the innermost sanctissimus (most holy - the most important religious space for sacred rituals and containing the oratory and founder’s grave). The spiritual symbolism of the three-fold vallum system was profound. In some instances the sanctior and sanctissimus areas were conjoined rather than concentric and quite often no trace remains of the sanctus vallum. Most people look only at the monuments which are located inside the innermost enclosure.