Blackhall bones removed for analysis

Skeletal remains discovered near the roundabout linking Blackhall Street and Grove Street, Mullingar some weeks ago have been removed from the site for further analysis, the Westmeath Examiner has learned.

The discovery was made on May 22 during roadworks being carried out as part of Westmeath County Council’s ongoing Enhancement of Mullingar Town Centre programme.

Work at this part of Blackhall Street has been halted as a licence was awaited to exhume the bones, but is expected to resume in the near future, after the bones were removed from the site on Wednesday.

Last month, supervising archaeologist Gerry O’Dwyer said that early indications suggested that as the bones lay in relatively shallow ground and were in a disarticulated state, they may have arrived on site as part of a delivery of topsoil at some point in the past.

However, speaking to the Westmeath Examiner this week, Cormac Brennan, a site assistant on the excavation carried out by Kilkenny-based archaeology firm Shanarc Archaeology, said that one of the skeletons, that of a child, had been found in an articulated state.

“We have found the skeletons of at least one child and at least one adult,” Mr Brennan told the Westmeath Examiner. “The child’s bones were in an articulated state – that is, laid out for burial – while those of the adult or adults were disarticulated.”

The skeletons, Mr Brennan added, were discovered at quite a shallow depth, between 40cm and 50cm. He said that the bones have been sent to a consultant osteoarchaeologist for cleaning and further analysis, after which the director of excavation will be furnished with a report.

No other finds of great significance have been made during the town enhancement works so far, save the unearthing of the early 20th century cobblestones on Dominick Street, and at the same location, a drainpipe trench which dates from the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

Excavations carried out during the development of Blackhall in 2003 and 2004 led to the discovery of a mass burial site containing more than 150 skeletons. Archaeologists concluded that the site was probably a graveyard associated with the nearby 13th century Dominican priory, from which Dominick Street gets its name.

Research indicates that the area bounded by Pearse Street, Blackhall Street, Meeting House Lane and Mount Street is one of the earliest sectors of medieval Mullingar.

In his 2003 report, archaeologist Rob Lynch stated that the majority of burials found at Blackhall were “simple inhumations”, but that modes of burial indicated that people from diverse social backgrounds were buried at the site.

“The presence of one substantial stone-lined coffin... indicated the presence of high-status individuals within the site, probably associated with the priory,” the report read.

“Burials were generally aligned east-west, but there was one aligned north-south, which was also buried prone (face down), both of which were unusual traits, perhaps consistent with the burial of a social outcast or criminal.”