2008:1065 - Mill Street, Curraghnagap, Easkey, Tipperary

Testing was required for a small site on Mill Street, measuring 21.16m by 9.84m, directly north of Easkey medieval church and graveyard. There had been a house on the northern third of the site until a few decades ago and it has been suggested that there may have been as many as seven houses along a short stretch of this side of Mill Street. At the time of the 1837 OS mapping there was an even smaller structure on this site. The Brereton Estate maps of Easkey of 1788 and 1835–1860 show this earlier structure. The remnant walls survived to no more than 1.6m in height. The stones were examined for the possibility of stones purloined from the adjacent medieval church; one such stone with possible pocking, measuring 0.35m by 0.31m 0.21m, found in the west wall of the ruins, was put inside of the medieval church for its safety.
Excavation for the house to the west in 1998 revealed bedrock immediately under the former house foundations there and monitoring for another development in 2003 also revealed rock immediately under the thin road material (Excavations 2003, No. 1648, 03E0670). For these reasons, despite the proximity of the graveyard, burials were not expected.
An excavator with a toothless bucket was used as far as was safe and a variety of hand tools were used as suited the work.
For the front of the site, following demolition and removal of the ruins, a thin layer of small stones and spreads of sterile sea sand was under the solid floor; bedrock was reached immediately thereafter.
Although three bones were found in the very basal soil in crevices in the rock, there were no other finds other than modern ones and this northern third of the site has been resolved. These bones must be from burials pre-dating the house.
For the rear garden of the former house, following removal of a thin layer of top sod, further clearance revealed two spreads of cockle and periwinkle shells accompanied by modern glass and crockery, presumably rubbish discarded from the dwellings. There were no grave markers of any sort in this area.
Rather than disturb these two spreads of seashells at this stage, a 2m-wide trench between them was opened in order to discover what depth of soil was across the rear of the site. One bone was exposed but not lifted, 4m north of the north wall of the church in what appeared to be undisturbed glacial material. The trench was continued northwards for another 6.5m. This exposed a concentration of disarticulated human bone, including parts of a skull, a jawbone with teeth and some longer bones. At this stage testing of the rear two-thirds of the site ceased.
The rear southern two-thirds of the site, which revealed human bones, has not been fully resolved. The possibility is that there were formal burials in this area just north of the church, perhaps a part of the graveyard that did not get enclosed in the early 19th century. After an initial record of the bones was made, those not lifted were secured, covered with plastic sheeting and the whole rear of the site, including the spreads of seashells, was covered over with topsoil, rubble and dead bushes.
The bones were subsequently examined by Laureen Buckley, palaeopathologist, who confirmed the presence of bones representing at least three individuals.