Miscellanea

Introduction 

I get frustrated by talk show radio when people formulate opinions and profess them passionately without seemingly any prior thought or background knowledge. I always react positively to passion but the lack of solid underpinnings bothers me. Luckily in my work life both in archaeology with Eachtra and in historic graveyard conservation and promotion with the Historic Graves project there are solid theoretical foundations for what we do. Read more »

The excavation of the probable famine era burials associated with the Tuam workhouse on the Atherny Road in Toberjarlath on the south eastern outskirts of Tuam is still progessing. Close to 45 burials have now been recorded and excavated in our small excavtion area. The area needs to be extended slightly in order to access the area presently under the footpath to the north east. We are hoping that the excavations will be completed next week. I took the opportunity to talk with the excavation crew (David O'Reily, Ray O'Riordain, Ann Bingham and Brendan Kelly) last week about their work at the site and the following audio snippets reveal a bit more about the reasons for the excavation, the realities and practicalities of the excavation, some historical context and the local reaction to the work.

Eachtra are currently in the process of excavating a number of human remains in Toberjarlath townland on the eastern edges of Tuam, in Co. Galway. Remains were first discovered in a trench excavated by Coffey Group in order to insert a new watermain as part of the ongoing works associated with the Tuam Town Water Supply Scheme. The trench was located in the middle of the road at the junction between the Athenry Road and the Dublin Road Housing Estate.  Read more »

Work is presently ongoing in Tuam on a new road which links Shop Street and Bishops Street and runs along the banks of the River Nanny. Prior to construction of the road we got the chance to excavate the subsurface remains of what is known as Garvey’s Mill. The site of a mill is well documented on a number of old maps of the town dating back to Morris’s map which was drawn in 1720. Nial O’Neil led the excavations and revealed three main phases of development on the site with the final phase corresponding to the outline of the buildings on the 1838 Ordnance Survey map of the town and Bourke’s 1863 map.  Read more »

The Survey and Publication Process