County: Leitrim Site name: MANORHAMILTON: Our Lady’s Hospital
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0720 and ext.
Author: Declan Moore, Moore Archaeological and Environmental Services Ltd.
Site type: Graveyard
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 589116m, N 839450m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.303692, -8.167213
During construction works on the new headquarters building for the North-Western Health Board for County Leitrim, three inhumations were exposed in section at the north end of the development site. Construction works in the area were stopped pending an assessment of the exposed archaeology. Site visits were carried out on 21 June and 10 July 2001 and a preliminary survey of the inhumations was undertaken.
Following consultation with and recommendations from Dúchas and the National Museum, testing was carried out to establish the extent of the inhumations in the area. This comprised a narrow strip at the northern end of the proposed works, to the south of the former St Joseph’s Fever Hospital, on the line of a proposed access road. Five test-trenches were excavated, revealing two concentrations of burials, one to the east and one to the west.
Following further consultation with Dúchas and the National Museum, it was agreed, in the light of the advanced nature of the programme of works, that full excavation of a strip at the north of the site be undertaken. The work was carried out, between 26 July and 19 October 2001, to establish the extent of the remains and to remove all remains directly affected by construction. It is hoped that, following scientific analysis and consultation with the National Museum of Ireland, Dúchas and the client, the remains will be reinterred at a location also within the grounds of the former workhouse.
Seventy skeletons in varying states of preservation were excavated and recorded in two areas, a small area to the east and a larger area to the west, along with twenty small finds. The site is located to the south-west of Manorhamilton on a south-facing slope overlooking the Enniskillen road. The remains were uncovered to the rear of the hospital, immediately south of the former St Joseph’s Fever Hospital.
The burials probably date from around 1844 onwards. It is probable that further inhumations are present to the north. The underlying geology consists of heavy glacial clay overlying Carboniferous Benbulben and Bundoran shale formations.
200 Dún na Coiribe, Galway
