County: Offaly Site name: DERRYVILLA
Sites and Monuments Record No.: OF034-008 Licence number: C492; E4377
Author: Clare Mullins
Site type: Burial ground and enclosure
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 654697m, N 714365m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.176940, -7.181792
Human bones were identified in 1997 at the site of a sand quarry in Derryvilla, Portarlington, Co. Offaly. The site was originally a low, flat-topped hill and the highest part of the hill appeared to be the focus of what turned out to be a previously unrecorded burial ground (OF034-00801). Test trenching at the site was carried out in 1998 to determine the nature and extent of the burial ground (Excavations 1998, No. 550, 98E0315), during which time elements of a previously unrecorded enclosure were also uncovered (OF034-00802). The entire site was subsequently the subject of a Preservation Order.
In 2010, due to further activity and erosion at the site, the National Monuments Service requested some additional testing of the site to determine whether any of the previously identified burial ground remained and to investigate the possible existence of the enclosing element. One test trench, measuring 6m x 6m, was inserted in late 2012 in the approximate location of the area tested in 1998. This revealed a stratigraphy similar to that identified in 1998, consisting of up to 0.6m of re-deposited overburden upon an old ground surface and burial horizon. The overburden contained considerable quantities of disturbed human bone. Disturbed human bone was also found within the topsoil of the old ground surface and within the upper levels of the burial horizon. It was thought that some of the disturbed bone within the upper levels of the burial horizon represented partially in situ burials but the level of disturbance generally precluded the identification of individual interments. At a deeper level within the burial horizon the undisturbed burial of a young child was identified and fully excavated. The existence of this undisturbed burial indicates that part of the burial ground at Derryvilla remains intact.
Two further test trenches will be inserted in 2013 in the vicinity of the possible enclosing element. Samples of bone from the undisturbed burial and from one of the partially in situ burials will be used for C14 dating. It is hoped that the test trenches to be excavated in 2013 will produce additional information on the nature of the site.
Byrne Mullins & Associates, 7 Cnoc Na Greine Square, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare
