Parish ‘shocked’ at plan to relocate 500 skeletons

PEOPLE living in the rural Co Laois parish of Cullahill have expressed outrage that the National Roads Authority is pressing ahead with its plan to relocate 500 skeletons uncovered by archaeologists working on the route of the proposed new M7 motorway.

Local priest Fr Willie Hennessy said: “Local people here are shocked that the burial site of their ancestors which remained undisturbed for 1,500 years is now being desecrated.”

Initial investigation by a team of archaeologists suggests that the previously unknown 7th century settlement at Parknahown near Cullahill became a major burial site by the 9th or 10th century.

“All the people living here feel that this historical site should be preserved,” Fr Hennessy stated.

The NRA has removed the remains of many of the skeletons from the site and all the remains will be reinterred on consecrated ground.

Elsewhere, archaeologists working on the €63 million Charlestown bypass in Co Mayo have found a wealth of artifacts as well of evidence of a major early Neolithic settlement.

A site near the present GAA pitch in Charlestown proved a double surprise for the excavation teams who found evidence of a settlement during the Neolithic period (4,000 years BC) as well as during the early Christian (500-900 AD) periods.

A 15-metre long souterrain or underground passage probably built for refuge during times of cattle raids, is one of the main features of the later enclosure at the site.

Items found here and at other locations along the 18-kilometre stretch of bypass include pottery, stone tools, pieces of flint, three bronze ringpins, lignite bracelets and a glass beads.