County: Westmeath Site name: 49 Oliver Plunkett Street (rear), Mullingar
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 06E0604
Author: Rosanne Meenan, Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath.
Site type: Urban, medieval, graveyard
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 643560m, N 752902m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.524281, -7.343064
Planning permission was granted to renovate and extend premises on the south side of Oliver Plunkett Street, Mullingar. The development comprised demolition of much of the standing buildings and construction of an extension at the back; i.e. facing on to Blackhall Street. The site is located due north of the site of the Dominican priory in Mullingar (WM019–089). Four trenches tested the eastern half of this site prior to commencement of development.
A layer of grey soil mixed with some building rubble covered the site; this layer varied between 0.8 and 1m. At the north end of Trench 1 there was a deposit of hardcore that had been laid down about twenty years ago. Each of the four trenches yielded evidence for in situ human burials. These appeared to have been seriously disturbed in the past and there was also a quantity of disarticulated bone mixed through the grey soil. A band of dark clay ran across Trenches 2 and 4; this may represent the remains of a shallow ditch. There was evidence for considerable post-medieval disturbance.
Further full excavation of the site was carried out by
Eoin Corcoran (see No. 2064 below).
