- Ardee town, Townparks, Co. Louth, Louth

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Louth Site name: Ardee town, Townparks, Co. Louth

Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR LH017-101032 Licence number:

Author:

Site type: Graves of indeterminate date

Period/Dating:

ITM: E 696216m, N 790338m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.853585, -6.537560

In November 1946 human remains were discovered at Townparks, on the outskirts of Ardee, Co. Louth.176 The site in question had been used as a grain store but the floor was levelled in advance of resurfacing. According to the finders, some bone had also been discovered six years previously when work was being carried out on the floor, but the bone was reburied at the time. The site was investigated by Ellen Prendergast. On this occasion fragments of skull and some ribs were recovered approximately 0.3m beneath the old floor level. Prendergast uncovered the remains of this skeleton, which consisted of the ribs, upper part of the spine and upper limbs. This appeared to have been disturbed by previous work on the site. The lower portion of the skeleton, however, seemed to have been largely undisturbed by the resurfacing operations. The burial appears to have been extended and supine, aligned west/east. No associated artefacts were found.177 A few large stones were found close to the burial, but Prendergast thought that these may have been the remains of wall foundations, or may have comprised debris from the levelling.

176. Parish of Ardee, barony of Ardee. SMR LH017-101032—. IGR 296286 290324.
177. The human remains were brought to the Museum and sent to Professor Keenan for examination. They do not appear to have been returned to the Museum