St. Mary's Abbey (Ferns) Community Participation Days

St. Mary’s Abbey and St. Aidan’s Monastery (Ferns) Community Excavation

The Irish Archaeological Field School (IAFS), in association with the Ancient Connection project, are delighted to be offering the local community an opportunity to participate in the IAFS dig in St. Mary’s Abbey and St. Aidan’s Monastery this summer, as part of the larger project “Discovering St. Aidan’s Monastery", funded in part by Ancient Connection. For more information on the project, as well as event details and the registration link, see below!

What? Archaeological excavation

Who? Volunteers, amateur enthusiasts and local community, led by the professional team of archaeologists at the IAFS

Where? Located at St. Mary’s Abbey and St. Aidan’s Monastery in Ferns, Co. Wexford

When? The community dig will take place August 9^th, 10^th, 12^th, and 13^th 2021. Volunteers can participate anytime during those dates, however, we do ask for a minimum of 2 days participation.

Background: This project is a partnership between the IAFS, Wexford County Council and the local community, and aims to assess one of the most historically significant, but hitherto relatively unassessed, Early Medieval sites in southeast Ireland. The St Aidan’s Monastery project is centred on a major research excavation of both the 7th century monastery and a latter 12th century Augustinian Abbey. The site is a multi-period complex, originally founded by St Aidan at the turn of the 7th century, which also contains Early Medieval crosses and cross slabs, a twelfth century Augustinian Abbey (founded by the King of Leinster Diarmuid McMurrough), and thirteenth century medieval cathedral (Edan’s Cathedral) within its wider confines.

Read more about the project and site here.

Register your interest for participation here