2007:1538 - Knockbrack, Sligo

Testing was carried out on 24 and 25 October 2007 at a site in advance of its use as an extension to Drumrat graveyard in Knockbrack townland, Co. Sligo. The proposed extension was located within an ecclesiastical complex, 12.5–13.5m from the ruins of a church and within a graveyard in which quernstones and a number of cross-inscribed stones were discovered. The proposed extension consisted of new grave plots and intervening footpaths covering an area of 24–32m by 24m, located midway along the eastern boundary wall of the graveyard. The site also contained a millstone, a bullaun stone, a possible Early Christian enclosure and a fragment of a sandstone structure, probably a church. No archaeological features were visible within the area to be developed.
Testing consisted of the excavation (by machine) of four trenches, which measured 17.8m, 21.5m, 21.7m and 21.5m long respectively, 0.45–1m wide and 0.4–1m deep. The spoil from the trenches was investigated using a metal detector. Below the topsoil was orange/grey/brown loose loamy sand (a natural subsoil). The topsoil contained artefacts of plastic, glass and metal associated with current burial practices. The investigation of the spoil using the metal detector yielded only modern 20th-century artefacts.
Sections of a ditch filled with plastic sandy clay loam with occasional charcoal flecks was revealed in three of the trenches. The remains of a possible bank (inside the ditch) were uncovered in one of the trenches. The ditch and possible bank were part of the Early Christian enclosure, which was just visible in the field to the east of the graveyard.