2012:162 - BANBRIDGE: Old Hospital Road, Down

Testing and monitoring were carried out at this site in advance of the construction of a Community Treatment and Care Centre. Part of the site was formerly occupied by the Old Banbridge Hospital and union workhouse. A series of walls were uncovered within the central and southern areas of the site, while four possible stores or workshops were recorded in the central western area of the site. In the centre of the site, an east to west-running wall was uncovered, possibly bounding the graveyard associated with the union workhouse.

Two areas of burials were identified in the south-western and western part of the site. These burials were found in an area that was used as a graveyard associated with the 19th-century union workhouse. In Area A a total of 89 burials were uncovered. All the grave cuts were evenly spaced and aligned east to west. Within the grave cuts were multiple burials of between three to five coffins, stacked one on top of another. In total there were 220 human remains exhumed. Area B consisted of 27 graves containing 22 burials. All burials were removed under the care of an osteoarchaeologist and an undertaker, and were reburied in a nearby cemetery by the council.