Evidence of a violent past uncovered during building work at Clonmel Townhall.
When workers found a skull during construction an archaeologist from Tipperary Corporation was called on to the site. At this stage, construction work became an archaeological investigation.
Twenty three skeletons were found in the council's backyard.
Archaeologist Mary Henry is both surprised and excited by the find as the site had no record of any burial grounds. There is the possibility that the individuals are the casualties of violence, as two musket balls were discovered in the rib cages of two of the skeletons.
Clonmel Townhall began life as a merchant's house in the Cromwellian period. The bodies must have been buried on the site before the house was built.
Author and historian SJ Watson speculates that the skeletons are just a few of the casualties of the Siege of Clonmel in 1650.
The skeletons will now be sent away to be carbon dated.
It would be an important site if we could associate it with the Cromwellian Siege.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 22 August 1993. The reporter is Michael Ryan.
