2007:1218 - Cornoroya, Ballinrobe, Mayo

Testing took place within the grounds of Mayo County Library, in Ballinrobe town in advance of the development of a proposed eight-bay parking area. The library occupies the former St Mary’s Church of Ireland church which was built in 1840. It functioned as a place of worship until 1996 when Mayo County Council converted the building into a public library.
The test area measured 4m by 20m north–south. Two hand-excavated trenches were laid out across the test area (2m by 4m east–west). A thin, dark-brown topsoil (0.05–0.1m deep) covered the area. Some modern material was found within this context including clay-pipe fragments, nails, slate, brick, bone fragments, decorated tile and pottery sherds. Immediately beneath the topsoil lay a compact deposit of stone, gravel and clay (0.17–0.3m in depth). The deposit contained mortar, ash, brick, tarmac, slate, modern pottery sherds, animal bone and wood fragments and would appear to be a deposit of construction material that was dumped in this area. Occasional disturbed fragments of human bone were found within this context in both trenches. This material may have derived from the construction of an access road (immediately east of the test area) through the graveyard in the 1960s. It overlay a dark-brown peaty clay (0.14–0.25m) which appears to be the original topsoil in this area of the graveyard. This context contained modern finds that include pottery sherds, brick, wood fragments, tile fragment, metal fragments, glass and animal bone. In addition a moderate amount of disturbed human bone fragments are present including a possible finger bone/digit and a femur ball joint. A deposit of stone (0.1–0.35m in depth) was encountered beneath this original topsoil. It consisted of medium to large sub-angular stones.
Four clearly defined grave-cuts were identified. Three of these were located at the east end of Trench 1 and the other at the east end of Trench 2. The top of an adult cranium and mandible was visible in the upper fill of one of these grave-cuts. Following the positive identification of formal burials testing was concluded. The identified grave-cuts were preserved in situ. The trenches were lined with terram, backfilled with soil and reinstated. Mayo County Council does not now propose to construct a parking bay at this location.