What is recorded here

In late December 1970, a bulldozer sliced through the lower field of Drumlane and exposed a row of human skulls. The machine stopped, the driver vanished, and the bones sat bare under the winter sky until officials arrived to decide their fate. Some fragments left for examination while the rest remained embedded in the earth, neither buried again nor fully recovered. That sudden interruption turned a routine farm task into a encounter with forgotten lives, leaving the identity and timing of the dead unresolved.

The remains were found in the field in which the abbey is situated, approximately 180m south of the church and round tower of Drumlane. The following is recorded by Cahill and Sikora (2011, ii, 305-6): ‘In late December 1970 human remains were discovered during bulldozing operations near the ecclesiastical site of Drumlane, Co. Cavan. The site was on an out-farm of a landowner, living some 5km away, who was levelling parts of the monastic site for reclamation purposes. During this work a row of human skulls had come to light, and operations were suspended. Some of the human remains were removed for examination by a local doctor and the remainder were left in situ. The site was reported to the Garda Síochána, who informed the NMI. An investigation was carried out by Michael Ryan on 1 January 1971, but the site was not excavated. . . . In the absence of any associated finds or other evidence it is not possible to suggest a date for these burials. Although they were found close to a monastic site and later abbey, there is insufficient evidence to associate them with either of these phases of use at the site. The likelihood remains, however, that there is a connection to the church. The human remains were not retained.’ Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 20 January 2015

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