October Lecture: ‘Church Island in Lough Beg, an enduring spiritual place in the landscape’

Name: October Lecture: ‘Church Island in Lough Beg, an enduring spiritual place in the landscape’
Start: 2025-10-27T19:30:00+00:00
Location: Elmwood Avenue, Belfast

Schedule

Mon, 27 Oct, 2025 at 07:30 pm

UTC+00:00

Location

Elmwood Avenue, Belfast | Belfast, NI

The October UAS lecture is titled ‘Church Island in Lough Beg, an enduring spiritual place in the landscape’ and will be given by Thomas McErlean. This is a hybrid lecture and will take place in-person in 0G.029 Elmwood/Geography Building, QUB as well as online (Zoom/YouTube).

As always, *free* hot beverages and biscuits will be served at 19.00 (feel free to bring your own mug - BYOM) before the lecture begins at 19.30.

Members will receive the Zoom link a few days before the lecture. Everyone can also watch the lecture on our YouTube site at - https://youtube.com/live/IxV_S6iDGBI?feature=share (please like and subscribe!).

Lecture Abstract: The lecture explores some horizons and events in the long history and archaeology of Church Island in Lough Beg . The little Island has a fascinating story commencing in the 6th century as a monastery founded by St Thaddeus (St Teague) evolving in the 12th century into the parish church of Ballyscullion and surviving into the 21st century as a place apart that still preserves an aura of sanctity and a focus of community identity.

Lecturer Bio: Thomas McErlean is a landscape archaeologist and has had a varied archaeological career culminating in many years spent in the University of Ulster as a senior research fellow. He worked for many years in intertidal archaeology and garden archaeology but his abiding research interest is the study of the Gaelic landscape with particular reference to the origin and significance of Irish townlands, medieval estates and parishes.