19 May, 2023

Book Launch: Ranelagh The Forgotten Cemetery

We had the pleasure of attending the official book launch for ‘Ranelagh: The Forgotten Cemetery’ on Thursday 18th May in Roscommon. The project and resulting publication was introduced by Transport Infrastructure Ireland Project Archaeologist Martin Jones and coauthors Shane Delaney of IAC and Professor Eileen Murphy of Queen’s University Belfast who thanked all members of the excavation and post-excavation teams for their input.

The book was launched by Michael MacDonagh, Chief Archaeologist of National Monuments Service, who praised the quality of on-site recording and management of the year-long excavation, and the successful collaboration between commercial consultancy and academia to produce this keystone publication. He highlighted the significant achievement of the project which merged traditional with innovative techniques. This publication represents the work of a large team of archaeologists and specialists, who have managed to distill the substantial quantity of data produced by the archaeological investigations into an extremely interesting discussion on how people lived and were treated in death in Roscommon spanning c. 1,000 years of activity.

The archaeological works were supported throughout by members of the Roscommon County Council NRDO, specifically by engineer Gary Kelly.

This beautifully illustrated book is available to buy from Wordwell Books for €25 or to read online for free on the Transport Infrastructure Ireland website.

An illustrated StoryMap has been produced on the archaeological findings of the project by Abarta Heritage for TII and this can be viewed here.

The story has also featured in the media with Irish Heritage News sharing the findings here.

Image (from left to right): Maeve Tobin (IAC), Rob Lynch (IAC), Muireann Ni Cheallachain MIAI (IAC), Michael MacDonagh (NMS), Shane Delaney (IAC), Prof. Eileen Murphy (QUB), Rónán Swan (TII), Martin Jones (TII), Gary Kelly (RCC), and Jess White (QUB/IAC).