2010:243 - St David’s Church, Castlefarm, Dublin

St David’s Church, Kilsallaghan, Co. Dublin, is located north-west of Swords, in the townland of Castlefarm. The insertion of toilet facilities into the north-western part of the church necessitated the excavation of a pipe trench, c. 20m long, running east–west to the north of the church and the excavation of an area to the north-east of the church to facilitate the associated sewage units.
The church is located on the site of an earlier church (DU011–011001), which may have been surrounded by an ecclesiastical enclosure (DU011–011003). Within this enclosure and surrounding the church there is a graveyard (DU011–011002).
Examination of the exposed sections of the Biokube sewage treatment pit revealed that the upper 0.5m consisted of disturbed ground, with stone, slate fragments and mortar flecking in a clay loam soil matrix. Below this and extending to a depth of 1.3m below present ground surface was a relatively stone-free dark-grey/brown, friable loam. Animal and disarticulated human bone were recovered from these layers, which in turn overlay a compact yellow/brown loam clay and it was in this layer that the burials were found, and from which the articulated bones of a foot were recovered. The disarticulated remains represented two adults and one juvenile individual. The foot bones were from an adult and appeared to be from a male. No pathology or abnormalities were evident on the bone.
It seems probable that the upper 0.5m of stone, slate and mortar represent made ground associated with the construction of the present church building in the 19th century. A close examination of the larger section exposed in the Biokube pit suggests that the layers below, the relatively stone free clay loam and the underlying compacted loam clay, represent the original soil horizons within the graveyard.
The project architect confirmed that the Biokube system could be housed within the excavated 1.4m-deep pit, and therefore no further excavation was undertaken.