2022:234 - WHITECHURCH: St Mary's Graveyard, Wexford

Conservation works and associated archaeological monitoring were carried out on a bulging graveyard wall at St Mary’s Church, Whitechurch, Co. Wexford. The graveyard’s origins lie in the medieval period and it is a recorded monument (RMP No. WX039-057002). The repairs involved filling in masonry voids, re-pointing degraded mortar joints and flaunching the top of the graveyard wall. The works also required the erection of eight support buttress.

The excavation of foundation pits for the support buttresses was carried out under archaeological supervision. This revealed that archaeological deposits were present in one of the pits (Pit 5). This took the form of a brown silty clay that contained the degraded remains of what appeared to be part of a human skull. After consultation with the National Monuments Service and the National Museum of Ireland it was agreed that the possible human remains should be left in situ. The archaeological deposits were subsequently covered in terram and the pit was backfilled. No further work took place at this spot. The remaining foundation pits at the site contained no archaeological features or finds.