What is recorded here

Gravel-diggers and ploughmen broke the surface of Mullanstown around 1909, exposing forty tightly packed graves shallow enough to reach with a hand. Rough stones separated the dead, and a single spindle-whorl lay among them, suggesting women worked and waited there before anyone remembered their names. The hillock still holds what the fields forgot: a neighbourhood buried so quickly it never learned to be history.

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007 Situated on a low flat hillock and discovered c. 1909 during the course of ploughing. Prior to that date gravel-digging had revealed four human skeletons (CLAJ 1909, 204). The owner of the land, on discovering the remains in 1909, uncovered an area of c. 10m by 4.5m. An estimated forty skeletons were discovered, only three of which appeared to be complete. The graves were closely adjoining, separated from each other by rough stones and covered wholly or partially with rough stones. The graves were not more than one foot under the surface. A spindle-whorl was found amongst the graves. (CLAJ 1909, 204-5)

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.