What is recorded here

In September 1950, a sandpit near Tullamore yielded two skeletons beneath a flat stone, prompting Father Hurley to remove one skull before the rest were reburied in the Jesuit cemetery. The discovery vanished from official notice because intervention preceded report, leaving the dead without record and the site without marker. What seemed like routine excavation became a quiet erasure, preserving mystery rather than memory.

Unlocated burial within the towland of Coolanarney (Shaw 1971, 5). The National Museum of Ireland recorded that 'in September 1950 human remains were discovered in a sandpit at Coolanarney, near Tullamore, Co. Offaly. The remains were found at a depth of c. 0.9m below ground level and consisted of two skeletons. According to the finder, a flat stone measuring c. 0.9m by 1.2m lay over the legs of the skeletons. The skull of one of the skeletons was removed by Father Hurley of the Jesuit College, Rahan. The rest of the remains were apparently reburied in the Jesuit cemetery. The site was not reported to the NMI until after the reinterment of the skeletons and was therefore not investigated' (Cahill and Sikora 2011, vol. 2, 506). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Offaly' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 13 August 2012

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