Project: Great Connell Abbey Exploration Project
Directors: James Bonsall, Earthsound Archaeological Geophysics & Dr. Thomas Loughlin, Irish Hellenic Institute, Athens, Greece.
Location: Great Connell Abbey, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
Year: 2012-2014
Funding: €3,900 (Kildare County Council Community Heritage Grant €2,400, Kildare Archaeological Society Research Grant €1,500)
Aim: This project examined the use and demise of Great Connell Abbey by tracing the extent of the medieval monastic remains using geophysical survey, LiDAR, cataloging architectural spolia from the abbey (which has been re-used in local prominent 19th century buildings including military barracks) and research at the archives of the British Army at Kew Gardens, UK.
Outcomes: The research was presented at the Irish Conference of Medievalists (see below) and is currently being written up for publication.
Bonsall, J. & Loughlin, T. 2014. ‘Reduce, recycle, reconstruct: resurrecting the architecture and landscape of Great Connell Priory, Newbridge, Co. Kildare’, Irish Conference of Medievalists, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland, 2 July 2014.
Dr James Bonsall 