2001:827 - GRANARD SEWERAGE IMPROVEMENT SCHEME, Longford

The scheme covered a distance of approximately 4.5km through and around the town of Granard, passing through seven townlands: Granardkill, Teemore, Rathcronan, Churchquarter, Granard and Ballynacross.

As part of the monitoring undertaken during construction of the new treatment works in the townland of Teemore, a double-bowled pit was excavated. It comprised a double-oval feature measuring 1.6m in length and 0.57m in width, with a maximum depth of 0.25m. It was orientated north-west/south-east and had gently sloping concave sides to the north-east and south-west, a steep, smooth side to the north-west, and a moderate concave side to the south-east. The base was irregular, forming a large oval at the southern end and a smaller suboval at the northern end. Between the two the base was shallower and sloped predominantly towards the south-west. It was filled primarily with mid- to dark yellowish brown friable sandy silty clay containing occasional subangular and subrounded pebbles up to 10mm in diameter, and occasional flecks and small lumps of charcoal. Above this deposit was the secondary fill — mid-yellowish brown friable silty sand, containing moderate subangular and subrounded stones up to 0.05m in diameter, moderate angular stones up to 0.12m in diameter, occasional subangular stones up to 0.2m in diameter, and very occasional charcoal flecks. This secondary fill yielded several small sherds of crude earthenware, and possible flint or chert débitage. It was thought at the time of excavation that it might represent a double cremation, but nothing of this nature was revealed during processing of the environmental samples. Interpretation has therefore been left open.

During the main thrust of the work some months later, seven other features were identified along the pipeline route, all thought to date from around the 18th/19th century. They consisted of pits, stone drains and a ditch. All four pits were of similar size and only yielded fragments of animal bone. One of these pits contained no small finds and was of indeterminable date. The ditch was probably the remains of a drainage ditch. One pit identified directly to the north of the ditch had a similar fill to the middle fill of the ditch. The two stone drains identified were typical examples of 19th-century storm drains and were well constructed.

A stone-built well was discovered at the southern end of Tuite’s Lane, and was cordoned off during construction work in order to protect it. It was not listed in the Record of Monuments and Places and should therefore be considered for inclusion.

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