Burial

The National Monuments Service's description

The files of the National Museum of Ireland records that in July 1954 human remains were discovered during land reclamation works at Ballard, near Kilbeggan, Co. Westmeath (Cahill & Sikora 2011, vol. 2, 518). A human skull was discovered at a depth of 0.5m below ground level, and was broken upon discovery. The site was visited by Breandán Ó Ríordáin. The remainder of the burial was found in situ, extended and oriented west-north-west/east-south-east. There was no evidence for any grave structure or associated artefacts. The area surrounding the excavation is slightly elevated, and approximately 4m north of the bones on the natural rise is a clump of bushes with a number of large stones concealed from view. It was not possible to say whether this was a monument or not. The SMR records only one site-a ringfort- in the townland, but Early Bronze Age cist burials are known from the adjacent townlands of Kilgaroan and Ardballymore. The human remains were not acquired (NMI File).

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of upload: 08 December 2010

References

Cahill, M. and Sikora, M. (eds) 2011 Breaking ground, finding graves - reports on the excavations of burials by the National Museum of Ireland, 1927-2006, 2 vols. Dublin. Wordwell Ltd. in association with the National Museum of Ireland.