Grave Yd. — Greatheath (maryborough East By.)

Not marked in gothic on the 1841 edition of the OS 6-inch map and not marked on the 1909 edition of the OS 6-inch map. Reference to a thatched chapel at Loughshinahawn and a font (LA013-029002-) which was used as a cure for warts and growths (O'Hanlon et al. 1914, vol. 2, 586). The font was removed to a farmyard. No visible surface remains. Graveyard (LA013-029003-) contains a T-Plan church (int. dims. of nave 5.6m N-S; 15.83m E-W; chancel int. dims. 17m N-S; 5.85m N-S; wall T 0.65m; wall H avg. 0.65m) of 19th century date built on a gentle slope in the W quadrant. Graveyard cleaned up and the church has been excavated probably by a FAS scheme. The graveyard is a large rectangular area (dims. 100m N-S ; 35m E-W) with a projection along the middle of the W side where the church is located. It has a mortared stone wall on the E and N sides and field banks on the other sides. The old school house a two storey derelict building is on the perimeter of the graveyard at the SE angle. There are only about 20 headstones dating from c. 1815 up to 1985. The church was a Roman Catholic church, T-Shaped in plan of 19th century date. There is a corbel limestone stoup that may be the font (LA013-029002-) described by O'Hanlon inside the E doorway, the basin has a diameter of 34cm by 28cm H 24cm. The basin has a diameter of 20cm and a depth of 10cm. The church is orientated on an E-W axis with the projecting chapels at the W end of the church and the possible doorway (Wth 1.20m) and stoup at the E end of the building. Area outside chapel and graveyard (Nat. Grid Ref. 25197 20100) was investigated by Martin Doody in the year 2000 under excavation licence no. 00E0894. Testing was carried out in an area adjacent to the disused graveyard at Greatheath in advance of the construction of a dwelling-house. The work was carried out in December 2000 and involved excavating ten trenches to foundation level in the area of the proposed development. No features of archaeological significance were recorded; however, a disarticulated human skeleton was uncovered in the topsoil close to the graveyard boundary and appeared to have been dumped in this position having been disturbed at some time in the past (Bennett 2002, 187). Area outside chapel and graveyard was investigated by Martin Doody in the year 2001 under excavation licence no. 00E0894ext. 00E0894 ext. Test-trenching was carried out in an area adjacent to a disused graveyard at Greatheath in advance of the construction of a dwelling-house. The work was carried out in January 2001 and was a follow-up to earlier trenching at the site in 2000, which had uncovered the dumped remains of a human skeleton (Excavations 2000, No. 560). Nothing of archaeological significance was recovered on this occasion. The site was again visited in June during the digging of the foundation trenches for the house, but no further archaeological remains were uncovered. Area outside chapel and graveyard was investigated by Martin Doody in the year 2002 under excavation licence no. 00E0894. Testing was carried out in an area adjacent to the disused graveyard at Greatheath in advance of the construction of a dwelling-house. The work was carried out in December 2000 and involved excavating ten trenches to foundation level in the area of the proposed development. No features of archaeological significance were recorded; however, a disarticulated human skeleton was uncovered in the topsoil close to the graveyard boundary and appeared to have been dumped in this position having been disturbed at some time in the past (Bennett 2002, 187). Futher test-trenching was carried out in January 2001 and monitoring of the house foundation trenches was also carried out in 2001 by Martin Doody under licence no. 00E0894 ext.. No archaeological features were uncovered (Bennett 2003, 223). Again in June 2002 archaeological monitoring was carried out and no archaeological features were uncovered (Bennett 2004, 287). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007