Medieval Abbey Cemetery Excavated in Northern Ireland

CARRICKFERGUS, COUNTY ANTRIM—BBC News reports that the remains of more than 140 people were found in an area where a medieval abbey is thought to have been located during an investigation conducted ahead of a construction project. Woodburn Abbey was built in 1326 by the Premonstratensians, a Roman Catholic religious order, and dissolved in 1542 when the community moved away. The abbey building was then partially demolished in 1558 and eventually lost. The abbey cemetery is thought to have been situated alongside the main structure, explained Chris Long of Gahan and Long Archaeological Services. Most of the remains uncovered in the cemetery are thought to have belonged to men, but the bones of some women and infants were also recovered. The bones, thought to date to the fourteenth or fifteenth century, will be radiocarbon dated and examined by an osteoarchaeologist for additional information about their age, sex, and health status. “The vast majority [of remains] are buried in the Christian tradition of east-west orientation, but some later burials have been deposited north-south,” Long added. “This may reflect the burial of executed criminals from nearby Gallows Green, who would have been denied a full Christian burial,” he suggested. The bones will be reinterred at another location after the analysis has been completed. For more on archaeology in Northern Ireland, go to "Finding the Battle of the Ford of the Biscuits."