Archaeologia Islandica - 01.01.2006, Page 44

Steffen Stummann Hansen and John Sheehan
Early Ecdesiastical Sites
Figure 9. Plan of the Beefan church site in Donegal, Ireland. After Lacy, 1983.
nection is that the former are of circular
or sub-circular plan, like the Irish sites,
and that the difference may simply be a
matter of scale. In fact, there are some
early ecclesiastical enclosures in Ireland
that are actually within the size-range of
the North Atlantic sites, including the one
associated with St. Columcille at Beefan,
Glencolumcille, county Donegal (Lacy
1983, 244) (Fig. 9).
The general difference in the
sizes of the North Atlantic and Irish
enclosed ecclesiastical sites is probably
related to the different roles these sites
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