What is recorded here

Caltragh, a thirty-metre sand hill in Carlanstown, held bones so deep and widespread that quarrying tools kept striking them decades before official eyes saw the site. Local memory spoke of a battle buried beneath the drifting gold sand, giving the hill a violent heartbeat under its quiet shape. When men finally cleared the top in 1969, they found remains scattered across the whole slope, disturbed and mixed, as if the hill had been turning them over like beads on a string. A plain gold ring surfaced half a century earlier, maybe a wedding band, maybe a trophy, lost in the same endless shuffle of death and sand.

The files of the National Museum of Ireland records that in may 1969 human remains were discovered during clearing operations in advance of quarrying at a sandpit at Carlanstown, Finnea, Co. Westmeath (Cahill & Sikora 2011, vol. 2, 519-20). The remains were found on top of a sand hill which stood c. 30m high, at a depth of approximately 0.3m below the surface. The hill is known locally as Caltragh, and there was apparently a local tradition of a battle at the place. The site was reported to the Gardaí at Finnea, who informed the NMI. An investigation was carried out by Dr Joseph Raftery. The burials appeared to extend over the whole hill. It was not possible to ascertain the disposition of any of the skeletons as most of them had been disturbed prior to Raftery's visit. According to local information human remains had been found at the site for over 50 years, abd 45-50 years ago a plain gold finger ring was found with one burial. No artefacts were noticed on this occasion, and the human remains were not acquired. In 1971 a report was received stating that further remains had been discovered at the site, but the Gardaí were instructed to rebury the remains locally (NMI File). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 8 December 2010

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