Here Coleman negotiated with the local Chieftain and was granted a site for a monastery. He appointed Gerald the son of a Northumbria Prince and a former pupil, who had come to Ireland, also because of the result of the Synod of Whitby as Abbot of this new monastery. By the year 700 AD more than 100 monks lived and taught there. It became a famous place of learning attracting many students from all over Ireland and Britain. Later it gave its name to Co. Mayo.
Historians identify both as late medieval Franciscan foundations.
It is suggested that the site of Temple Moyle church and that of the ancient Saxon foundation be one and the same. The discovery in 1978 of an iron, bronze-coated handbell and an inscribed graveslab close to Temple Moyle strengthens the case for linking the two sites. The handbell, identified by Professor Etienne Rynne as being of a class associated with the AD 600 - 900 period, was found during the excavation of the sand hills close to Temple Moyle. Professor Rynne confirms that the characteristics of the slab are consistent with a ninth or tenth century dating. The combination of factors are suggestive of the adjacent sandhills having being used as places of ancient burial with strong evidence of at least one important ecclesiastical interment.