County: Kildare Site name: Church Of Ireland, Kilmeague
Sites and Monuments Record No.: - Licence number: 06E1105
Author: Martin E. Byrne, Byrne Mullins & Associates, 7 Cnoc na Gréine Square, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare.
Site type: Graveyard
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 676625m, N 721886m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.241822, -6.852023
Monitoring was undertaken in the grounds of the Church of Ireland church at Kilmeague, Co. Kildare, as part of an overall conservation project. Phase 1 of this project partially comprised the insertion of rain/surface water drainage along the southern and western sides of the church. Such work required the excavation of trenches in the immediate area of the existing graveyard.
There is no established zone of archaeological potential at Kilmeague. However, historical sources indicate the 18th-century church may have been constructed on an earlier graveyard. Indeed, it is recorded that skeletal remains were encountered during building construction across the road to the east of the churchyard.
All ground-reduction works required of the development were monitored and no features of archaeological interest were uncovered. However, a total of 57 fragments of bone were recovered, largely from the southern backfilled foundation trench of the existing church and in the western area of the churchyard. These were subsequently examined by Clare Mullins, who identified 55 of the fragments as being of human origin.
Al the bone fragments were recovered from disturbed contexts. However, given that some were recovered from a foundation fill, there is a possibility that such may be associated with a pre-18th-century burial-ground. However, without a detailed archaeological investigation of other areas of the site, such a possibility must be deemed as speculative.
