County: Dublin Site name: KILSHANE
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: —
Author: Margaret Gowen
Site type: Burial ground
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 710408m, N 742789m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.423648, -6.338816
Several excavations were carried out between May and October 1988, ahead of the construction of the North-eastern Pipeline, Phase 2, running from Abbotstown to Dundalk.
This site lies on flat, low lying land about half a mile to the west of the N2 near St Margaret's in a townland which already has two recorded cemetery sites.
The Remains
The site was discovered when topsoil removal uncovered the remains of several skeletons and areas of disturbed bone. Excavation revealed the remains of 123 individuals, many of whom were children and adolescents. There was no enclosing element, though a linear ditch which appeared to be an old field boundary was revealed at the north of the excavated area.
No historic references have yet been found for this site but a more detailed study of the documentary sources may yield some information on it.
The Burials
Burial occurred on a c.21m stretch of the pipeline corridor and only on the western side of the area excavated which was a 8m wide strip running beneath the spoilheap of topsoil and probably beyond the western limit of the pipeline corridor. The area to the east was intensively trenched and no further burials were located. There was thus a dramatic density of burial in the small area excavated (as many as 3-4 individuals, one on top of the other in places).
While the burials were aligned east-west, in the Christian mode, the burial alignment was far more haphazard than had been noted on the other sites investigated during the same pipeline campaign. Some of the bodies appeared to have been buried either in rigor mortis or in a very hurried manner, as some were crouched, folded or lying to one or other side and there appeared to be little regard in many cases for the position of the hands. The remains of at least ten infants/young children occurred among those excavated.
In general the bone was remarkably well preserved, even in the case of the infants. This may indicate that the cemetery is of relatively recent date, perhaps dating back to the Famine Period. However, the presence of stones around and under the heads of some individuals, and the presence of 'pillowstones' may indicate a rather earlier date for the site.
Other Features
Two, apparently agricultural, ditches/drains were revealed, one to the south and one to the north of the excavated area. The fill of the northernmost feature, a linear ditch 5m wide where excavated (crossed diagonally) and 1m deep, which crossed the pipeline corridor in a north west/south east direction, contained animal bone and shell. This feature appeared to be an old field boundary or open drain and could be traced as a depression crossing the field through which the pipeline corridor passed in this area.
The second feature, a land drain 1m wide with a fill of stones at the base, ran north/south at the eastern limit of the site, lying outside the burial area.
Finds
The only finds retrieved were a plain blue glass bead and a fragment of a large tanged iron knife of relatively modern appearance.
5 St. Catherine's Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
