Ballyhanna Medieval Graveyard — Ballyshannon

Medieval church (DG107-119001-) and graveyard that was discovered as the result of an excavation carried out in the townland of Ballyhanna in the town of Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal, as part of an archaeological mitigation programme associated with the N15 Bundoran-Ballyshannon bypass. Archaeological excavation was directed by Brian O Donnchada for Irish Archaeological Consultancy (IAC) Ltd. Under excavation licence no. 03E1384. The project was funded by Donegal County Council and the National Roads Authority. The site was discovered during the course of a test trenching exercise undertaken by IAC Ltd. In July 2003 (test excavation licence no. 03E1012-). The site was located in an area primarily used for the growing of silage and which had not been subject to heavy agricultural use recently. The southernmost third of the field is on a raised platform, overlooking the town of Ballyshannon and the River Erne to the NW and W respectively. The field slopes down towards the river valley, the graveyard is located at the base of the hill. The low foundations of a building measuring c. 14m E-W x 7m N-S was uncovered along the edge of the East Port road. The presence of adjacent burials and the structure's E-W orientation suggested it was the remains of a church. Over 1,276 skeletons together with a large amount of disarticulate and loose bones were found in a small area (30 x 40m), gives some indication to the intensive use , and reuse of what appears to have been a fairly small graveyard in proportion to the number of graves. A phasing sequence of 11 phases of burial activity was identified in the excavation of the graveyard. Phase 1 represented the deepes and oldest layer with phase 11 representing the final stage of burial within the graveyard. Over 1,200 skeletons were excavated - men, women and children. The burials were mainly oriented with their heads to the west, looking eastwards. Many of them had pieces of stone quartz clasped in their hands. All of the burials except one respected the foundations of the church indicating that the main period of burial in the cemetery took place after the construction of the stone church. Many of the burials were disturbed and truncated by later interments, indicating that the area had been intensively used and re-used over time. In some places, as many as seven skeletons were found to be lying one on top of the other. The level of disturbance meant that most of the grave cuts were destroyed. Eleven phases of burial were identified, with the earliest in the west of the graveyard. Subsequent burials were placed at the feet of the previous inhumation until a line stretched from the west to the eastern limit of the site. It appears that when the eastern limit was reached the process started over again to the west, cutting through the original graves. The principal dating evidence for the graveyard came in the form of three silver long cross pennies and halfpennies dating from the reign of King Henry III (AD 1251-1276) and King Edward I (AD 1280-1302). Everted-rim ware pottery found in the church also dates to the 13th century. The above details were taken from unpublished excavation report by O Donnchada, B. 2006, 'N15 Bundoran to Ballyshannon Bypass, Ballyhanna'. IAC Ltd. Date of upload: 15 October 2010