Burial in Callow (ballynahinch By.)

Following a series of winter storms a section of the shoreline slumped in March 2014 revealing previously unrecorded human remains. On inspection an almost vertical W-facing sand face (H 1.2m) was abutted at its base by a sloping spread of recently collapsed sand and grass-sod (H 1m) above a rocky beach. Light grass-sod covered the ground surface above the sand face in which two deposits of bone were visible. The main deposit was 0.8m below ground surface and consisted of a possible shoulder bone projecting some 8cm from the face. While there was no obvious grave cut, a narrow lens (Wth 3-5cm) of dark clayey sand extended N from just under the bone (traceable L 0.66m). A second, smaller bone deposit, possibly a rib bone, was visible 1.55m to the N, but at a shallower depth (D 0.55m). The precise relationship between the two bone deposits was uncertain. Excavations carried out in May and June 2014 revealed that the bones were those of a child and adult and that the adult burial was later than that of the child (information from the National Museum of Ireland, February 2016). Updated by: Olive Alcock Date of revised upload: 10 October 2016