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A number of the ruined, late medieval buildings at Ardglass (Co. Down) are discussed to consider the way in which commerce took place. It is argued that one building provided both lodgings and shops on the ground-floor from where the merchants’ good might be sold, and another served as a dining room for the visiting traders. The pattern of lodgings and shops can be compared to the booths occupied by merchants elsewhere in the North Atlantic operating a type of form of trade distinctive of that region. Keywords:

It is suggested that early Irish slab shrines served the cult of corporeal relics and reproduced the tents of the saints.

People in early medieval Ireland, as elsewhere, would have tried to protect their families, their property, and their animals from disease, accidents and witchcraft, through the use of magic and customary practices based on folk beliefs, as well as through the intercession of the saints and the church. This paper explores some potential archaeological evidence for the use of magic in early medieval Ireland.