1996:224 - PORTLAOISE: Old Gaol, Church Street, Laois

The present structure was built in the late eighteenth century as a gaol, possibly replacing an earlier one. (The adjoining courthouse, built at the same time, replaced an earlier courthouse destroyed by fire.) It served this function until 1830, and in recent years housed the town's public library. Current plans to reconstruct it and the adjoining buildings as an arts centre necessitated an archaeological investigation, as the complex adjoined the old churchyard of St Peter's.

Three cuttings were excavated in the courtyard. In two, soil containing brick rubble with mortar fragments was found to a depth of approximately 2m below the present surface. An intact ceramic pipe 0.3m in diameter, probably a sewer, was also found at this depth. Finds from these cuttings comprised pottery of mainly eighteenth-century date (possibly some nineteenth-century), along with glass and clay pipe fragments.

In the third cutting two skeletons were found (one incomplete owing to disturbance). They were identified as male, aged 23–25 and 25–30. The causes of death could not be ascertained. Traces of a coffin were present in one case, and it appears to have been slightly too small for the corpse. The skeletons were found at a depth of 1.1m and were oriented north-south, with their heads to the south. Part of a third skeleton was noted in the baulk but not excavated. Beside them, at a lower level, was the base of a stone wall or foundation, at least 0.8m thick. The top of this wall was 1.54m below the present surface, and above this was rubble similar to that found in the other cuttings.

The presence of eighteenth- and possibly nineteenth-century material in the layer into which the burials were placed suggests that they represent part of a burial-plot attached to the gaol. The wall may be part of an earlier gaol building.

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