Progress Report. Day 12. It was too much to hope for three weeks of good weather. The heavy rain on Friday night filled the bottom of Trench 11, and the team of wonderful volunteers had a couple of hours of heavy work to prepare it for the Open Day.Their work was...
The Big Dig 2021 — Day 9
Progress Report. Day 9. After a week of clearing the disturbed layers in Trench 10 round the Sanctuary Stone, the diggers have now uncovered relatively undisturbed in situ burials, including a surprising number of children. These will be excavated very carefully....
The Big Dig 2021 — Day 6
Progress Report. Day 6. So far, the weather has been good for digging. One very hot day (Wednesday 8th) and one cut short by heavy rain (Thursday 9th). The forecast is good for next week and it looks as if we will not need to bail out trenches again. Apart from...
The Big Dig 2021 — Day 3
Progress Report, Day 3. We knew from 2018 that it would take several days of patient trowelling to reach our goal: the Early Church cemetery. This year we have been speeded along the way by Andy Hough, who removed the turf from three long trenches with his digger. ...
The Big Dig 2021
The Big Dig 4-25 September 2021 Clare Ellis, accompanied by the bone expert Angela Boyle, is coming back to Lismore to complete the work we started at the Church Glebe in 2018, exploring the Early Church burials. This year's dig will run from 4-25 September 2021 and...
Introducing Our Archaeologists
Exploring Moluag’s Monastery on Lismore, September 2021 Our Archaeologists: Dr Clare Ellis, Argyll Archaeology and Dr Angela Boyle Burial Archaeologist Clare will be leading our dig again this year. The partnership started in 2015 when she supervised the lifting...
Lismore Archaeology is Crowdfunding
Weʼre raising £2,496 to help fund Community Archaeology on Lismore to explore St Moluag's Monastery Help us to explore St Moluag's Early Church Monastery on Lismore Tradition has it that Moluag brought Christianity from Ireland to the Isle of Lismore in the...
The Big Dig 2021 — Hugh MacPherson Bequest
4-25 September 2021 The late, and greatly missed, Hugh MacPherson (pictured above) was a keen participant in our archaeological digs on Lismore. The CELM Board has decided to devote his generous bequest for 2021 to support the three-week dig in September, when we hope...
Archaeological Breakthrough
Press Release from Argyll Archaeology Clare Ellis BA, PhD, MIFA, FSA Scot Archaeological Breakthrough on the Isle of Lismore: Early Medieval Burial provides evidence for St. Moluag’s Monastery Tradition has it that St Moluag came from Ireland in AD562 to found...
The Big Dig 2018 — A First Report
Partnership between Lismore Historical Society and Lismore Parish Church. Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund In 2016 and 2017, the Community Dig aimed at revealing what was left of the cathedral nave and assessing the condition of the remaining masonry. We knew what...
The Big Dig 2018
This year we are concentrating on the Celtic Church on Lismore. Passers-by will have seen three 16m trenches in the South Glebe field where we are trying to establish the boundaries of the old graveyard, looking for "finds" from early medieval times, and...
Community Archaeology
Work in Progress Robert Hay The area on Lismore around the Parish Church is one of the most neglected heritage sites in Scotland. There has been no serious archaeology of what is considered to be the monastic headquarters of the 6th century mission work of Moluag...







