Burial in Borris Little

Archaeological testing and monitoring were carried at the courthouse and old gaol, Portlaoise, Co. Laois, from December 1997 to February 1998. Thaddeus Breen had investigated three areas under this licence in 1996 (Excavations 1996, 62-3; Cahill & Sikora 2011, Vol. 2, 488). Two areas were investigated during this current phase. Trench 3 was dug in the south-west corner of the courtyard. It produced evidence of cellars associated with the courthouse and a cobbled area (pre-dating the present courthouse). The cobbled area was found to be quite extensive, as cobbles were found during monitoring in the courtyard area of the site to the south. Trench 1 was dug outside the north-east gable of the gaol. A building had been recently demolished here. It produced a cobbled area that may be associated either with the building or with the other cobbles on the site previously mentioned. During monitoring of foundation trenches in the courtyard six skeletons were discovered. They were orientated roughly north-south, and all but one had their heads to the south. All skeletons were supine, with evidence of coffins. Skeletons 75 and 81 were complete. Skeleton 73's feet were truncated by a wall to the south. Skeleton 79 had been disturbed by the foundation trench to the east. Skeleton 77 was truncated from the pelvis up. Skeleton 91 was truncated from the patellae up. From the location of the surviving nails it can be suggested that the coffins were built of several pieces of wood tacked onto a frame. The coffin of Skeleton 75 seems to have had a thin iron band down the centre of the lid, which may have served to keep the coffin together or may have been a decorative strip. Evidence in support of the latter was found when, on closer examination of the metal, an impressed flower motif and swirls were noted. This gives the impression that some care was taken in the construction of the coffin. This is contrary to the impression given by the feet (they were squashed into the coffins) and the incorrect orientation. Perhaps the metal band was reused. It can be suggested that the coffins were built to a standard size as consideration was not given to individuals' dimensions. The fills produced post-medieval pottery sherds, glass and animal bone. The only directly associated finds were a copper-alloy shroud-pin on Skeleton 73 and the coffin nails and metal. Further monitoring did not reveal anything of archaeological significance (Bennett 2000, 125). Archaeological monitoring was carried out in October 1998 on the final phase of ground disturbance works associated with the upgrading of Portlaoise Courthouse and the redevelopment of the old gaol into a new arts centre. The courthouse was built in 1789 and replaced an earlier structure destroyed by fire. The gaol was built at around the same time and remained in use until 1830, from when it functioned as an RIC barracks, until the 1860s. It was converted into a public library in the 1950s. Two phases of trial-trenching and monitoring preceded this programme of monitoring and were carried out between December 1996 and February 1998 (by Thaddeus Breen, Excavations 1996, 62-3, 96E0277, and Fiona Reilly, No. 370 above). These investigations found the remains of a graveyard in the courtyard of the old gaol, a cobbled surface that pre-dated part of the gaol and the remains of a structure outside its eastern wall. Five service trenches were excavated as part of the development, three in the courtyard on the eastern side of the courthouse (Trenches 1, 4 and 5) and two outside the eastern wall of the old gaol (Trenches 2 and 3). Trench 1 (22m long, 1.2m wide) revealed two phases of activity. Phase 1 consisted of a small pit cutting the natural clay at the southern end of the trench, which was filled with organic material containing 18th-century pottery. To the north of Trench 1 a large feature cutting natural was revealed. This was filled with heavy clays containing animal bone and occasional sherds of 18th-century pottery. This feature was cut by a large north-south-orientated limestone wall, 14.85m long, which also extended into Trench 4 (9.77m long, 2.65m wide), to the south. This feature was one of two walls making up Phase 2; the second was orientated east-west and ran off at a right angle from the first. It is likely that these walls formed part of ancillary structures associated with the courthouse. To the east of the old gaol Trench 2 (44.2m long, up to 1.7m wide) exposed two phases of archaeological activity. Phase 1 consisted of a large east-west-orientated pit, which extended into Trench 3 to the west, giving it a minimum length of 4.6m. It was 1.87m wide and 0.95m deep. The pit was lined with organic waste and backfilled with heavy clays. It also showed evidence of having been recut. Phase 2 consisted of the remains of a north- south-orientated limestone wall exposed for 4.1m in section, which was abutted by an east-west-orientated wall to the west of it. This wall continued into the adjacent Trench 3, where the remains of a disturbed cobble and flagstone surface were exposed 1.6m to the south of it. These two walls formed part of the boundary wall enclosing the gaol precinct. To the north of Trench 3 sections of the southern and eastern walls of a previously identified structure were revealed. These walls enclosed the remains of a cobbled surface. The surface was sealed in places by a compact layer of cess and overlay the earlier pit described above. It is likely that this structure functioned as a stable, possibly associated with the RIC barracks (Bennett 2000, 125-6). The present structure was built in the late eighteenth century as a gaol, possibly replacing an earlier one. (The adjoining courthouse, built at the same time, replaced an earlier courthouse destroyed by fire.) It served this function until 1830, and in recent years housed the town's public library. Current plans to reconstruct it and the adjoining buildings as an arts centre necessitated an archaeological investigation, as the complex adjoined the old churchyard of St Peter's. Three cuttings were excavated in the courtyard. In two, soil containing brick rubble with mortar fragments was found to a depth of approximately 2m below the present surface. An intact ceramic pipe 0.3m in diameter, probably a sewer, was also found at this depth. Finds from these cuttings comprised pottery of mainly eighteenth-century date (possibly some nineteenth-century), along with glass and clay pipe fragments. In the third cutting two skeletons were found (one incomplete owing to disturbance). They were identified as male, aged 23-25 and 25-30. The causes of death could not be ascertained. Traces of a coffin were present in one case, and it appears to have been slightly too small for the corpse. The skeletons were found at a depth of 1. lm and were oriented north-south, with their heads to the south. Part of a third skeleton was noted in the baulk but not excavated. Beside them, at a lower level, was the base of a stone wall or foundation, at least 0.8m thick. The top of this wall was 1.54m below the present surface, and above this was rubble similar to that found in the other cuttings. The presence of eighteenth- and possibly nineteenth-century material in the layer into which the burials were placed suggests that they represent part of a burial-plot attached to the gaol. The wall may be part of an earlier gaol building. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 December 2007