Combining Archaeological and Documentary Sources for Late Medieval Churches in the North of Ireland
Channel: The Ulster Archaeological Society
Date: 25/10/2022

Late medieval church sites are a common feature across the north of Ireland, many of which have both visible archaeological remains and references in medieval documents. Despite this, most late medieval church studies either analyse church architecture in a local area or present narrative histories of ecclesiastical and political developments in the wider Irish Church in the period. This paper discusses the use of interdisciplinary methodology in a regional study of late medieval parish churches in the north of Ireland. It assesses the archaeological and documentary sources available for late medieval churches in this area and the types of information that can be drawn from them, and concludes with a case-study to demonstrate some of the advantages of the interdisciplinary approach and the new lines of inquiry it can lead to.

Louise Moffett is a second-year PhD student at Queen's University Belfast, funded by the Northern Bridge Consortium. After graduating in 2017 with a BSc in Archaeology and Palaeoecology from Queen's University Belfast, she completed an MA in Medieval Archaeology at the University of York. Louise then worked for a commercial archaeology company in England on various archaeological excavations, before returning to Queen's. Her PhD title is "The Place of the Late Medieval Church in Ulster". She is also a member of the Ulster Archaeology Society.