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Archaeologists in Longford town discover 500-year-old graves

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Courtney Caine
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« on: August 22, 2009, 04:23:56 pm »


Archaeologists in Longford town discover 500-year-old graves


Published Date: 14 August 2009
By Ailbhe Gillespie

Archaeologists excavating at Mullagh on the outskirts of Longford town have discovered a 500-year-old unmarked graveyard filled with the remains of at least 40 individuals.
Several other archaeological sites have also been discovered by the team working for the NRA including an Iron Age Smelting Pit, a cereal-drying kiln, an isolated pit and postholes located in the graveyard and a Fulacht Fiadh.

Evidence of the anc
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ient remains was first discovered last October during test excavations for the proposed N5 Longford Bypass and a team of 15 archaeologists from Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd are presently carrying out a full excavation, under the instruction of Mandy Stephens, the Site Director.

Deirdre McCarthy, the NRA Project Archaeologist, explains: "Four previously unknown archaeological sites were uncovered as part of the investigation. Three of these sites are in the townland of Mullagh and the initial investigations indicated these sites consisted of a metalworking site, a graveyard and an isolated pit. In the townland of Aghareagh, a Fulacht Fiadh was also discovered. The metalworking site consists of a bowl furnace and associated features. It has been dated to the Iron Age (409-386 BC)."

The graveyard was the most interesting part of the discovery for the team in that there was no evidence of its existence before the NRA's team began test excavations.

"The graveyard site consists of the remains of at least 40 individuals, both adults and juveniles and the graves probably extend beyond the limits of the road take," Deirdre commented. "Preliminary dating of the graves indicates that the graveyard was in use between 1468 and 1648 AD. This graveyard was unknown before test trenching of the route and was not evident on early maps of the area."

The existence of this hidden ancient graveyard has baffled the archaeologists working on the site as there were already several other graveyards in use in Longford town at the time. Deirdre feels that they may have been connected with Mullagh House or a castle which was located nearby.

The team found a marking of Mullagh House on a map dated around 1650 and the graveyard was in use up until circa 1648 AD.

"The man who owned Mullagh House at the time (John Kennedy) also owned a lot of land in the area and we think the graves might be in some way associated with this historic house," Deirdre explained.

"It's all quite mysterious though. The graves date to what was a turbulent time in Longford's history with the plantation of Longford occurring between 1620 and 1621. We spoke to Canon David Catterall and he said that they have full records of all the rectors in the area from 1420AD onwards except for the years that this graveyard was in use."

There is however evidence that the graves found by the archaeologists were made by a Christian people as all of the remains have been buried in an east west direction.



The full article contains 498 words and appears in Longford Leader newspaper.
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    * Last Updated: 12 August 2009 12:48 PM
    * Source: Longford Leader
    * Location: Longford

http://www.longfordleader.ie/news/Archaeologists-in-Longford-town-discover.5543837.jp
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Courtney Caine
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« Reply #1 on: August 22, 2009, 04:25:07 pm »

The excavation team also believe that the people living in the area at this time chose this location because it is on high ground and would have been suitable for metal work or indeed burial.

“You can see three different ring forts from her
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e and the metal working site may have also been associated with them,” Deirdre also pointed out.

Before the team commenced their excavation work on the site, Fr Turlough Baxter, son of the landowner, James Baxter held a blessing of the graves. The archaeological team will now spend the next eight weeks carefully removing the remains under licence of the Department of Environment. The bones will then be aged and some will be further radiocarbon dated so that the team can try to solve the mystery of this unmarked graveyard. The National Museum of Ireland will then take ownership of the remains and they will be boxed and stored.

The archaeological team have already discovered that many of the bones are in poor condition. Deirdre told the Leader: “The bones have not preserved very well, perhaps because the soil is quite acidic but also because the field was ploughed which did a lot of damage. There are lots of plough furrows cutting through the site. Nobody knew the graves were there so from 1940 onwards the owner of the land, James Baxter ploughed the site. He actually owned one of the first tractors in Longford.”

The proposed N5 Longford Bypass will connect the N5 Dublin to Westport road and the N4 Dublin to Sligo road. The proposed bypass will go through the townlands of Ballyminion, Mullagh, Cartrons, Moneylagan and Aghareagh to the north-west of Longford town. This bypass will not be affected by the discovery nor has its construction been delayed. Paul Newell, the Longford County Council Project Liason Engineer said: “In early 2000 archaeologists would be on site with the contractor but that has all changed. Now the archaeology is sorted before they appoint a contractor.” He continued to say that, “2011 is the planned construction date for the bypass but this all depends on finance and NRA approval.”

Deirdre concluded by explaining that the discovery of this 2,300 square metre site will help to show the archaeologists what life was like in County Longford at the time.

“Every road scheme we build, unknown sites turn up – it’s par for the course. But with this one we will learn a huge amount about the history of Longford. To find an unknown graveyard like this is amazing especially since there were several other graveyards in use in the county at the time.”



The full article contains 474 words and appears in Longford Leader newspaper.
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    * Last Updated: 12 August 2009 12:48 PM
    * Source: Longford Leader
    * Location: Longford
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