County: Sligo Site name: Rosses Upper, Ballyweelin, Cregg, Ballincar, Shannon Eighter
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SL008-212---- SL008-221---- SL014-304---- Licence number: 22E0373
Author: Tamlyn McHugh
Site type: Burnt mounds and burial Ground
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 566252m, N 839391m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 54.302161, -8.518498
The development of the Rosses Point Sewerage Scheme traverses the townlands of Rosses Upper, Ballyweelin, Cregg, Ballincar and Shannon Eighter, Co. Sligo and within the vicinity of the scheme are numerous monuments. Monitoring took place on various dates from June 2022 to May 2023. Three sites of archaeological significance were noted within the development area during the monitoring of topsoil stripping and the excavation of the pipeline trench, including SL008-212---- Burial ground and SL008-221---- Burnt Mound in Ballyweelin townland, and SL014-304---- Burnt Mound in Shannon Eighter (dated to the Early Bronze Age). The two burnt mounds were previously unidentified sites and have been preserved in situ. The skeletal remains encountered in proximity to SL008-212---- Burial ground, have been analysed by an osteoarchaeologist and were subsequently radiocarbon dated to the early 8th century (early medieval period).
This discovery has furthered our understanding of the site and clearly demonstrates that a burial ground existed here in the early medieval period and the remainder of the burials encountered, as well as potentially more burials, are likely to extend under the modern road surface of the Ballincar to Rosses Point Road.
Cooldrumman Upper, Carney, Co. Sligo
