County: Mayo Site name: LECARROWKILLEEN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 05E1297
Author: Bernard Guinan, Coosan, Athlone, Co. Westmeath.
Site type: Burial ground
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 517737m, N 758499m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.569932, -9.241950
In late October 2005, while Mayo County Council was widening the R334 in order to realign a dangerous junction in the townland of Lecarrowkilleen, Neale, Ballinrobe, a scatter of human bone fragments was exposed directly underneath the tarred road surface.
A standing stone 1.1m high, 0.4m wide and 0.2m thick, SMR 121:2, is mounted on a concrete base at the junction. It was relocated to its present position in the 1960s after having been struck by a car; local information suggests that it may originally have been larger.
After the remains were reported to An Garda Síochána, the NMI and DoEHLG, a rescue excavation was commenced at the end of 2005. The area under investigation measures c. 25m north–south by 10m. The road surface (0.05m of tar and chips) has been removed and to date further cleaning has exposed a number of grave cuts. Excavation is ongoing.
