Exciting results from Mayo Abbey LiDAR Survey
Mayo Parish Heritage Committee has just received the results of the recent aerial LiDAR survey of the original early Christian monastic site and associated settlement at Mayo Abbey village that was undertaken by Dr Paul Naessens of Western Aerial Survey last August. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing technique for creating a high resolution, high accuracy topographic model of a landscape. LiDAR facilitates the identification and mapping of extant archaeological earthworks, even when slight or under tree-cover. Modern drone technology has revolutionized the adaptability and affordability of this method of surveying.
The Mayo Abbey LiDAR survey, which was funded by the Heritage Council under the Community Heritage Grant Scheme 2023, has highlighted some hugely exciting new discoveries that have the potential to shed new light on Mayo Abbey’s proud heritage, it’s central role in the Celtic-Anglo Saxon Christian world in the 7th and 8th century and its evolution and development across the following millennium. A monastery was founded in Maigh Eó (The Plain of the Yew Trees), c. 670AD for a group of Saxon monks by St. Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne. The monastery became known as ‘Mayo of the Saxons’. For more than a thousand years it remained the most important centre in the region becoming in turn a diocese, a Norman town and gave it’s name to County Mayo, the third largest county in Ireland. This survey and other recent research projects will give new impetuous to future research projects and will also inform the development of a community-driven heritage plan for the monastic site and its environs in the coming years.
Mayo Parish Heritage Committee gratefully acknowledges the support of the Heritage Council under the Community Heritage Grant Scheme 2023 for the project. The committee wishes to sincerely thank Dr Paul Naessens for carrying out the survey and Kevin Jordan of KevEm Media for filming the survey and the two information evenings held in the village during the summer. They also thank the landowners for facilitation the survey and the speakers and the many people from Mayo Abbey parish and through County Mayo that attended the information evenings.
Mayo of the Saxons to County Mayo … a Millennium of Settlement. Thursday, June 29th 2023
The Mayo Abbey LiDAR Survey 2023 – A Heritage Week Presentation
Further information from heritage@mayoabbey.ie
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