ARCHITECTURAL fragments from a 13th century church have been discovered during conservation work at an old cemetery in Galway city which has been overgrown for decades.
The findings, though not yet complete, have caused excitement in the local community at Rahoon and the project archaeologist, Mr Jim Higgins, has expressed surprise at its extent.
The project involved clearing the old disused St James's Cemetery of overgrown shrubs, trees and briars.
The discovery of evidence of a Christian life in the area dating back to the 13th and possibly the 12th century has been exciting for those involved in the scheme which involves 24 young people from the Westside area.
"Nobody suspected that we would uncover anything like this, but to date we have found carved stones which were part of a window and doors of a church, most of which were reused as grave markers or built into walls," said Mr Higgins. "We won't know how much of it is intact at this stage.
"Initially our aim was to rebuild the wall around the cemetery, clear it generally and provide pathways but in light of this finding, it might be possible to reconstruct on paper the original form of the structure which had both 13th and 17th century phases."
The work is being carried out with the co operation of the National Monuments Service of the Office of Public Works.