County: Offaly Site name: 28 Main Street, Birr
Sites and Monuments Record No.: OF035–012 Licence number: 08E0198
Author: Michael Tierney, The Archaeology Company Ltd, Hamilton House, Emmet Street, Birr, Co. Offaly.
Site type: Urban, medieval, human remains
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 605846m, N 704783m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.093605, -7.912713
Testing was carried out in March 2008, in advance of development works at the rear of 28 Main Street, Birr. The site was located within the zone of archaeological potential for Birr town and the west boundary abutted the ruins of St Brendan’s Church and graveyard.
Two parallel test-trenches orientated east–west were opened. A large debris pit was noted in both trenches. This was 3m in diameter and 1.2m deep. It contained broken glass, brick, stone, slate and pottery, dating from the post-medieval period to the 20th century. Two ditch features were also noted running through both trenches. One was curvilinear, V-shaped in section, 2.5m wide and 1.4m deep. It contained medieval pottery and animal bone and the fill was loosely compacted dark-grey sandy clay. This ditch was located c. 9m from the west boundary and may have been a boundary of St Brendan’s Church. The second ditch was linear, orientated north–south and of probable post-medieval date. It was 1.5m wide, 1m deep and V-shaped in section, with a very soft, dark-grey silty clay fill.
Human remains were present at the west end of Trench 2, representing two adult individuals. The Garda Síochána, Coroner, National Museum and a local priest were notified of the remains and visited the site in accordance with protocol. The human remains, medieval curvilinear ditch and probable post-medieval linear ditch were preserved in situ, as they were located in an area designated for car parking.
