County: Westmeath Site name: Oliver Plunkett Street, Mullingar
Sites and Monuments Record No.: WM019–089 Licence number: 06E0604 ext.
Author: Eoin Corcoran, Archaeological Development Services Ltd, Windsor House, 11 Fairview Strand, Dublin 3.
Site type: Cemetery
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 643560m, N 752902m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.524281, -7.343064
Excavations were conducted at the site of a proposed development to the rear of a pharmacy at Oliver Plunkett Street, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath, between August and September 2006 following the discovery of burials during pre-development test-trenching. Only the areas of the site that would be directly affected by the proposed development were excavated, as had been agreed with the DOEHLG Heritage Service.
Approximately 90 east–west-oriented burials were removed from the site and the affected areas of a possible enclosing ditch were fully excavated. The majority of the burials were in simple graves and a number of nails found may indicate that they were originally buried in coffins. Medieval pottery was recovered from some of the graves as well as from associated deposits. The southern end of the site had suffered substantial modern disturbance. It is likely that the burials and other archaeological remains are associated with medieval activity at the Dominican priory that was located to the south of the proposed development site. As the Dominican priory fell into disuse following the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the 16th century, it is likely that the archaeological remains on the site, including the burials, pre-date the 16th century.
