2006:1532 - Claristown, Meath

Topsoil-stripping in advance of the south–north gas pipeline connecting Ballyalbanagh, Co. Antrim, to Gormanstown, Co. Meath, revealed a circular enclosure adjacent to the M1 motorway at Claristown. Just over half of the enclosure was revealed in the stripped area. The site appears to have been a roughly circular enclosure, c. 12.4m in internal diameter, bounded by a ditch varying from 1.8m to 3.1m wide by 1.02m deep. The main fill of the ditch consisted of compact grey clayey silt. Some animal-bone fragments, including a broken antler, were recovered from the ditch fill. The uppermost fill of the ditch was a layer of angular stones 1.6m wide by 0.2m deep.
Two burials were discovered in the interior of the barrow. Both skeletons were in a poor state of preservation. The first consisted of an extended burial, probably adult, with the right arm extended along its side, within a shallow stone-lined grave-cut. Movement of the stones and disturbance of the skeleton suggest that the grave has been damaged by ploughing. The grave was found to the north-east of the centre of the enclosure and was aligned north-west/south-east. The central area of the enclosure was largely absent of stones other than those in and around the grave-cut.
The second skeleton, which was located 1.5m to the south, consisted of the poorly preserved fragmentary remains of a crouched inhumation of a probable child on its left side. An iron pin lay across the body at the base of its ribs. Similar iron fragments were found in both graves.