County: Meath Site name: ST PATRICK'S CHURCH, Tara, Castleboy
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 31:33 Licence number: —
Author: Rosanne Meenan
Site type: Graveyard
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 692031m, N 759820m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.580185, -6.610219
During renovation of the church to prepare it for use as an OPW Guides' Office, the ground level outside had to be reduced and excavated in places; this work was archaeologically supervised.
Immediately south of the church a compact brown clay was reduced exposing a very soft crumbly shale underneath. Six disturbed burials were exposed here–they were lying on top of and partially embedded in, the shale and were very brittle. There was no evidence to indicate the date of burials. On the north side of the church groups of bones were exposed suggesting that they had been gathered up and reburied, possibly at the time of the building of the present church in 1822. Other work, also supervised, associated with the renovation did not expose material of archaeological significance.
Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath
