Cist in Cuffsborough

Reference to a crouched skeleton and a pottery vessel discovered within a short cist (JRSAI 1867, 7). Described by Mr. John Lawler, of Park, near Ballacolla who stated that 'in the beginning of the current year (1866), a human skeleton and a kind of vessel composed of clay and powdered granite, were accidentally discovered under a rock on part of the lands of Cuffsborough, in the occupation of a farmer name Sheil, and within a short distance of Gortnaclea (or the Field of the stakes), of historical fame for a battle fought there by the Dalcassians, returning from Clontarf, and the Ossorians. I went to take a view of the place, and I was informed by Mr Sheil, that in one of his fields there was an immense mass of rock, which he considered an obstruction to his agricultural operations, and consequently he set about moving it by balsting. In doing so he found the rock projecting outwards, and at the base, about ten feet from the top, he met with flags, which he at once concluded had been placed there by human hands, and which on further search, he found to be the covering of a kind of vault, constructed of such flags, about four feet square, where the skeleton lay, partly in a sitting posture, the vessel at the knees, and all covered with sand and clay mixed, and as fine as if they had been sifted. I saw the flags, which were rough and unwrought, and the fragments of the vessels, but the bones were returned to their forming resting place. In an adjoining townland a similar discover was made some twenty years back (LA022-061), but this was covered to a considerable height with clay, formed like a round hill; and also convenient to this village, two skeletons have been discovered in a cave under a pile of rocks, by persons in search of some supposed treasures' (JRSAI 1867, 7). 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