Burial ground in Mullagh

On a low hill in undulating pasture. This burial ground was identified in 2008 during trial-trenching in advance of the N5 Longford bypass (Hull 2009, 7). Excavations in 2009 revealed a total of 56 inhumations, 37 adults and 16 juveniles, aligned E-W or NE-SW (Stephens 2009b). Radiocarbon dates from a sample of tooth and bone yielded dates from AD 1468 to 1633 and from AD 1516 to 1648 (Hull 2009, 7, 9). The burials were truncated by modern plough furrows and lay within, and were sealed by, a layer of re-deposited clay. A number of the burials occurred in clusters and were intercut, potentially suggesting interring of family groups. Stephens (2009b, 38) interpreted this as a burial ground used from the 15th to the 17th centuries AD. A subsequent radiocarbon dating programme returned dates from the 14th to the 17th centuries suggesting the cemetery was in use from the high medieval through to the early modern periods (pers. comm. M. Stephens). The excavation also revealed evidence for possible medieval field boundaries (LF013-147----) at and within the vicinity of the burial ground and a corn-drying kiln (LF013-148----) at the W extent of the excavation. This burial ground is located some 200m to the SE of the ruins of Mullagh House, which may have been built on or close to a 17th-century house (LF013-023----). Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan Date of upload: 7 June 2013