2011:575 - NENAGH: Western Regional Hospital, Tipperary

Monitoring and excavation were undertaken following the discovery of human remains in the course of building works within the grounds of the Mid-Western Hospital in Nenagh, where the Health Service Executive had obtained planning permission to undertake redevelopment works. Planning permission had been obtained to demolish a single-storey building and a two-storey stair block and to construct a two-storey extension to the rear of the hospital, with associated enabling works, temporary provisions and other ancillary works throughout the hospital grounds. No conditions concerning archaeological requirements had been attached to the grant of planning permission, as the hospital, located on the outskirts of the town, was not within the confines of any recorded archaeological monument. Cartographic records confirm, however, that there is a burial ground to the rear of the hospital. This burial ground belonged to Nenagh Workhouse, which was built in the 1840s. The hospital was built in the 1930s on the site of Nenagh Workhouse and the Fever Hospital.

In the course of the digging of one of the main service trenches for the extension, human skeletal remains were uncovered by the building contractor. Works ceased at the location (a yard in the north-east corner of the hospital grounds) and the Gardaí were contacted. They removed the human remains (allegedly a young adult) and after further examination concluded that the remains were archaeological in nature. The immediate area where the remains were found was cordoned off, as it appeared that remains from the same skeleton were still present at the location and required removal. The excavation of the service trenches was continued outside of the cordoned-off area, and almost immediately a further burial and other human remains were uncovered c. 1.75m from the first burial.

The yard in which the main service trench was excavated was approximately rectangular in shape, with an east-north-east/west-south-west alignment and measuring c. 28m by 18m. The overall area of the trenching and excavation within the yard was c. 15m by 7m. The main service trench extended outside the yard, where a number of other smaller service trenches and manholes were also being excavated. All of the skeletal remains recovered from the site were located within or immediately next to the main service trench.

Only a small section of a cut feature could be discerned within Area A after excavation. This cut was also observed within the north-west-facing section of the main service trench and, owing to the presence of pieces of human bone in the section face, the fill was thought to represent a burial. The skeletal remains recovered by the Gardaí may represent all that remains from this burial, though no plans or photographs were available from these initial excavations and there was no way to be sure of the morphology of any associated grave-cut, or indeed whether the bones present represented one or more individuals (the bones recovered were from the skull and upper body of an adult, but there were also bones which may have been from a child). The remains of the cut measured c. 1.75m by 0.78m and had a maximum depth of c. 0.5m (with a depth of c. 1.1m from the modern tarmac surface). The cut contained three layers. The upper layer consisted of a mixed orange-brown clay with small stones. The middle layer consisted of mid–dark brown silty clay with orange patches and small to medium-sized stones. The basal layer consisted of mid–dark grey-brown clay with occasional small stones. The fill also contained a small quantity of skeletal remains, which were noticeable within the north-west-facing section of the trench.

The second burial was located close to the first within the base of the main service trench (at an approximate depth of 0.96m from the modern tarmac surface). The burial cut was subrectangular in shape and aligned in a north-east/south-west direction. The cut measured c. 2–2.5m by 0.8m. The in situ skeletal remains consisted of a skull at the south-western end of the cut and possibly a part of the pelvis in the centre of the cut. The fill consisted of a mid–dark grey silty clay with occasional small stones. From the size of the grave-cut and the bones within it seems probable that the skeleton was that of an adult. The skeleton was left in situ after being covered by a protective layer of terram and sand before the whole main trench was backfilled.

During the initial stages of excavation it was thought that there was a third burial located to the immediate south-east of Burial 2 owing to what appeared to be articulated bones within a possible grave-cut identified in the main service trench’s north-west-facing section. An area of 2.8m by 1.6m was cleared to the immediate south-east of Burial 2 to investigate the remains. Upon excavation it became clear that the remains were within a natural hollow mixed in with a layer of building debris, consisting of mid-grey-brown silty clay with frequent inclusions of brick. As well as the skeletal remains there were a number of finds recovered, mainly 18th- or 19th-century ceramics and a possible coin.

A total of eleven service trenches (including the main service trench where the burials were identified) with associated manhole openings were monitored within the northern and north-eastern parts of the hospital grounds. No other archaeological remains were identified in any of these trenches.

The remains recovered represented at least two burials (though Burial 1 seemed to contain both adult and child bones, suggesting that it may have been disturbed prior to the building works) and evidence that one or more other burials within the hospital grounds had been disturbed, possibly during the demolition of the workhouse buildings and the subsequent construction of the hospital in the 1930s. The fact that no further burials were found during monitoring suggests that the two burials identified, along with the other skeletal remains, may represent only the edge of a small burial ground which was concentrated in the north-east corner of the hospital grounds. It seems probable that these burials may represent the pre-Famine burial ground within the workhouse grounds. Looking at the location of the burials on the 1st-edition OS map for Nenagh (which was completed before the Famine), it seems that the north-east corner of the workhouse grounds were clear of buildings and may have been an ideal place for a small number of burial plots, especially for the first few years of the workhouse’s occupation. The 2nd-edition OS map showed a number of small buildings located in the north-eastern part of the workhouse grounds which presumably covered the earlier burials, especially as most workhouse graves would have been unmarked. The map also showed the 1847 graveyard (which was set up owing to the increasing mortality rates at the workhouse) with clear boundaries set out to the east of the main grounds. It seems possible that in the years following the Famine many of these earlier burials were forgotten about.