2012:482 - Clones Workhouse, Monaghan

A phase of test excavation and follow-up excavation was carried out on an extension to a factory at the site of the former Clones Union Workhouse in County Monaghan. The workhouse was opened in 1842 and a fever hospital was later constructed to the north of the infirmary to accommodate the numbers entering the institution during and after the Great Famine. A factory has occupied the site of the Workhouse since at least the 1970s, when the main Workhouse buildings were demolished. The Fever Hospital served as a veterinary unit up to 2012 when it was demolished.
Coffined burials were discovered in one of the new foundation trenches at the rear (eastern) end of the site during the construction of a new building in 2012. Work immediately ceased on the site and the area was closed off. An archaeological assessment confirmed the presence of human burials on the site and advised that a second phase of archaeological work would be necessary. The assessment also sought redesign to the foundation’s structures to minimize the impact of the construction works; notwithstanding this subsequent archaeological excavations were required prior to the completion of the building.
The results of the second phase of archaeological of works identified a total of 26 in situ burials on the line of the required foundations. All of the burials found were located within 5 of the 7 foundation pad trenches that were excavated along the eastern part of the site. Of the 26 burials, the skeletons of only 23 were removed or part removed. Further burial remains were identified in the spoil at the site that were disturbed by previous phases of construction from the 1970s up to the present building works.
The burials were located outside the Workhouse along the rear (Workhouse Wall) between the Mortuary and Fever Hospital. At least 2 phases of burial were identified. The Phase 1 burials were interred in mass burials pits, measuring c. 2.5m2 and containing up to 8 burials. A total of 8 burial pits were identified. These were left in situ as far as was possible. The Phase 2 burials appeared to be statigraphically later and were characterised as single inhumations or burials which were not interred in burial pits. The time span between the 2 burial phases is not definitive, but is likely to reflect the horrifically high mortality rate during famine, when mass graves were required to accommodate the daily mortality within the Workhouse and later burials that were single internments in the late to early 20th century or after.
The Clones Famine graveyard is located approximately 500m (3 fields) to the south-east of the site. In 2011, the national famine commemoration was held here and attended by the President of Ireland, Mary Mc Aleese. It is said (locally) that there may be up to 5000 people buried in this graveyard. It is hoped to re-inter the remains from this site into the famine graveyard.
The main eastern boundary wall of the workhouse was also located on the site. Garden soils were identified on the west or inside of the wall but no burials were encountered in this area.
The osteological analysis of the site is being carried out by Dr. Jonny Geber, who has identified a minimum of 35 individuals from the excavated human remains. These comprised 17 non-adults and 18 adults, the latter of which included seven males and four females. Identified pathologies includes indicators of considerable metabolic disorders (scurvy, cribra orbitalia, Harris lines), as well as degenerative joint disease and dental disease. Overall, the palaeopathological findings and distribution of lesions are very similar to those observed in the skeletons found in famine mass burial at the workhouse in Kilkenny City, excavated by Brenda O’Meara for Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd in 2006 (Excavations 2006, No. 1556, 05E0435), and appears to conform to a palaeopathological trait in victims of the Great Famine in Ireland.

Edmond O’Donovan and Associates, 77 Fairyhill, Bray, Co. Wicklow