Description of a great sepulchral mound at Aylesbury-road, near Donnybrook, in the county of Dublin, containing human and animal remains, as well as some objects of antiquarian interest, referable to the tenth or eleventh centuries / by William Frazer.
- Frazer, William
- Date:
- [1879]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Description of a great sepulchral mound at Aylesbury-road, near Donnybrook, in the county of Dublin, containing human and animal remains, as well as some objects of antiquarian interest, referable to the tenth or eleventh centuries / by William Frazer. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![■ small fibres of the roots marking some of the skulls and other hones 'by absorption of their bony tissue. At a distance of at least fifty feet tfrom the trunk of the tree I measured one of its leading roots, and 1 found it to be upwards of two inches in diameter. When the site was first inspected it was possible to trace I out a distinct wide-spread flattened elevation, or mound, of clay, Ithat extended inwards from the border of the ancient obliterated Ihighway into the field for about one hundred feet, of a circular Iform, measuring from east to west almost as much; its eastern 1 limit was less defined, as the ground sloped ^adually away. Mr. 'Wardrop had partitioned off a portion of this field towards the ’west end, and in digging here some forgotten stone drains became 1 uncovered. But it deserves to he noted, that no trace of drains ’Was present in the sepulchral mound, or near it; in fact, it must lhave remained from the remote date of its formation up to the ] present time altogether undisturbed and intact. Bordering the south 1 and west of the mound, there was a slightly elevated bank; this Ihoundary ridge had the deceptive appearance of constituting some Ikind of defensive embankment round the spot where the bodies lay. VS’hen it was better examined, it was ascertained to be of natural (Origin, for as the labourers excavated through the southern margin ithey found it to consist of undisturbed primitive soil, unbroken and (continuous with the level surface of the original field, upon which the I human remains rested, the colour and condition of the clay showing tthat it was a normal elevation of the primary soil, and not in any I respect artificial. The disposition of the mass of bones and of the clay covering that (Composed the mound itself was rendered evident as the workmen • excavated across it from north to south, cutting it open by a wide and • shallow trench, averaging thirty feet in width, and progressing until : they had passed through its entire extent, and for a distance of several I feet beyond it. I consider the most satisfactory observations were I made when the trench was opened to about half its length, and when Ithe vertical boundaries of the cutting were recent, during dry weather and in bright sunlight. Under those circumstances, it was easy to distinguish the horizontal line that marked the surface of the field itself; beneath this line the section uniformly showed the undisturbed ; yellow clay, composed of stiff argillaceous material, and containing ) rounded and angular stones of ordinary argillaceous limestone, such as : arc common throughout the district; and in this there were no traces of graves or interments, nor any imbedded human remains, save where, through the lapse of time, the bones of a few of the lower • stratum of skeletons resting on this surface had sunk down slightly into it. This clay underlying the mound is similar in all respects to the ordinary soil of the district, and its comparative iraperviousness to ' wat(;r would account for the remarkable state of preserviition in which the majority of the skulls and other bones were found. This](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2230759x_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
