2015:570 - CROOKSTOWN: Moyleabbey/Crookstown Upper, Kildare
County: Kildare
Site name: CROOKSTOWN: Moyleabbey/Crookstown Upper
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A
Licence number: 15E0058
Author: James Hession, Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd.
Author/Organisation Address: Unit 2, Europa Enterprise Park, Midleton, Co. Cork
Site type: Burial ground
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 679974m, N 697299m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.020400, -6.807998
Excavation was undertaken at the site of the new St Laurence’s school at Moyleabbey/Crookstown Upper, Crookstown, Co. Kildare.
A total of 21 inhumation burials were identified during the excavation. 13 individuals (eight adults and five children) were excavated with the remaining eight individuals preserved in situ. In addition, three samples of disarticulated or displaced human remains were retrieved from disturbed areas.
The burials have been radiocarbon dated to the post-medieval/early modern period, but the existence of the original church in this location (c. AD 1720–1867) and the isotopic indicator towards the consumption of maize, suggests that these burials may be as a result of the Great Famine of 1845–52.
The excavation was undertaken between 6 February and 3 March 2015.