What is recorded here

Ballyduff holds a buried chamber where young adults waited beneath the soil, undisturbed until a storm felled the tree above them. The roots tore open the dark, dragging west-east bones into daylight after generations of silence. A forged cross and a coin from 1683 marked the edge of the cache, but the chamber itself refused to explain why it kept them.

The files of the National Museum of Ireland records that in February 1990 human remains were discovered in the roots of a tree which had fallen in recent storms at Ballyduff, Co. Laois (Cahill & Sikora 2011, Vol. 2, 488). Parts of several skeletons were visible firmly embedded in the root ball of the tree. The site was reported to the NMI and was investigated by Mary Cahill. The landowner, Mr Michael Booth, stated that the area has always been avoided when ploughing even though there was no surface indication of an enclosure. It was possible to tell that the skeletons were originally oriented west-east, probably in an extended position. According to the landowner there were no local traditions of a cemetery or church site known to this family, although an enquiry as to the location of 'Ballyduff Cemetery, had been made to him in one instance. A forged iron cross of relatively modern date was found in the area, as was a bronze coin of 1683. The pathologist at Portlaoise hospital examined the bones and found them to be the remains of several young adults, but the cause of death could not be determined. The bone was not acquired but was re-interred locally (NMI File). Compiled by Caimin O'Brien Date of upload / revision : 10 August 2012

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