INTRODUCTION Few altars in Ireland can be confidently dated to the early medieval period (AD 400–1169) and what does survive appears to date mainly from the period of Romanesque architecture. Therefore, using archaeological, architectural and art historical methods, this paper examines the material evidence for altars in Ireland during the period AD 1050–1200. In writing this paper, the author set out to answer a number of basic questions, such as: what surviving evidence do we have for altars from this period; what size were they; what did they look like; and where were they positioned in churches? Finally, the paper will briefly discuss the possible interaction between altars and some of the surviving ecclesiastical metalwork of the period. The reasons why so few early medieval altars survive in Ireland, while varied, are closely tied to the general attrition of Irish medieval churches over the centuries. This is a subject in itself and there is not room to expand upon it here. Nevertheless, one explicit reference may be cited in relation to Clonmacnoise, one of the most important early medieval monasteries in Ireland, as an example. An entry in the Annals of the Four Masters in 1552 records: ‘Clonmacnoise was plundered and devastated by the English of Athlone; and the large bells were taken from the Cloigtheach. There was not left, moreover, a bell, small or large, an image, or an altar, or a book, or a gem, or even glass in a window, from the wall of the church out, which was not carried off. Lamentable was this deed, the plundering of the city of Kieran, the holy patron.’ While a sixteenth-century reference, this entry suggests that the altars in the largely early medieval churches at Clonmacnoise may have been made of wood and metal rather than of stone. Indeed, during the early medieval period it may have been the case that most altars were made of wood, as at a synod in Dublin convened by Archbishop John Comyn towards the middle of Lent 1185/6 one of the issues raised was the use of wooden tables as altars in Ireland (Gwynn 1944, 39). The synod issued a decree that ‘prohibits priests from celebrating mass on a wooden table according to the usage of Ireland; and enjoin, that in all monasteries and baptismal churches altars should be made of stone; and if a stone of sufficient size to cover the whole surface of the altar cannot be had, that in such a case a square entire and polished stone be fixed in the middle of the altar, where Christ’s body is consecrated, of a compass broad enough to contain five crosses, and also to bear the foot of the largest chalice. But in chapels, chauntries, or oratories, if they are necessarily obliged to use wooden altars, let the mass be celebrated upon plates of stone of the before mentioned size, firmly fixed in the wood’ (Mant 1840, 79). 1 Interestingly, a number of stone tablets inscribed with five crosses have been identified as altar stones made to be inserted into wooden altars. These have been found at Clonmacnoise and Gallen, Co. Offaly, as well as at Toureen Peakaun, Co. Tipperary, Ardmore, Co. Waterford, and Downpatrick, Co. Down (Lionard 1961, 136, fig. 27, pl. xxviii: 4; Henry 1970, 147), all of which are important early medieval ecclesiastical sites. While the date of these stones is unknown, it seems likely that they are later than the twelfth century. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHANCEL A significant difference between the church architecture of the late eleventh and twelfth centuries in Ireland and that which preceded it was the The Journal of Irish Archaeology Volume XIX, 2010 101–112 Altars in Ireland, 1050–1200: a survey Griffin Murray This paper for the first time surveys and assesses the archaeological evidence for church altars from the period of Romanesque architecture in Ireland. Eight stone altars or altar fragments were assessed, including a newly identified frontal from Glendalough. On the basis of this evidence it appears that altars in Ireland at that time were of uniform dimensions and shape, irrespective of the size of the church in which they were contained. All of those surveyed were decorated and, while the ornament varies, the decoration on half of them seems to have been influenced by the decora- tion of wood and metal examples that no longer survive. Finally, the standard surface area of the altars is compared to the dimensions of the surviving reliquaries and crosiers of the period, suggesting a direct relationship between them.