2012:489 - BALLICKNAHEE, Offaly

Following a report to the National Monuments Service of human remains exposed in the vicinity of a burial ground at The Parks, Ballicknahee, Clara, a site inspection was carried out by Caimin O’Brien, NMS, on 22 June 2012. The skeletal remains of one adult male, probably more than 45 years of age at the time of death, were retrieved by Kieran Campbell and Laureen Buckley on 17 July 2012.

The burial ground, OF008-064, was discovered in 1997 and was recorded by Donald Murphy in a site inspection in 1997 followed by limited excavation in 1998 under Licence No. 98E0286 (Excavations 1997 No. 440; Excavations 1998 No. 542). The burial ground was situated on a low gravel ridge aligned north-west to south-east which continues south-east into the field across the public road. The recent remains were exposed in the section face of the 2.3m-high field bank that bounds the public road, 23m from the quarry hole which was the site of the 1998 excavations. The high field bank is the result of quarrying within the field at some time in the past. The burial was contained in an unlined cut, 2.2m long and at least 0.36m deep, aligned north-east to south-west and excavated into the gravel subsoil. The burial was c. 0.8m below the present top of the field bank and 1.5m above the level of the field. The skull, vertebrae and lower arm bones were visible; some bones which had previously eroded out were recovered from the scree slope below. The exposed bones were recorded and removed. The burial is possibly an outlier of the cemetery since there does not appear to be any record of burials between it and the quarry hole. No dating evidence was recovered during the 1997-8 investigations or with the recent skeleton.

6 St. Ultan’s, Laytown, Co. Meath