THE PAST IN THE PRESENT

Volume 38 No. 3 / Issue No. 149

Autumn 2024

Faith and magic Apotropaic deposits in Roscommon

Ordnance Survey of Ireland ‘Fair plans’ and mapping Solar religion Bronze Age circles in Cork

THE MUMMIES OF ST MICHAN’S

The Military Heath Laois’s military archaeology

Volume 38 No. 3 Issue No. 149

FE ATU R E S

14 MORE THAN MAY

SOMETIMES MEET THE EYE? Arnold Horner discusses the Ordnance Survey ‘fair plans’ 19 CUP-MARKS IN COUNTY

WEXFORD Barry Lacey and Clare Busher O’Sullivan describe a recent discovery at Tombrack

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22 LOOKING FOR A STONY

PLACE Ronan O’Flaherty, Michael Brazzill, James Barry and Kieran Craven discuss the forgotten prehistoric burial mound of the Clorane, Forth Mountain, Co. Wexford 26 ST MICHAN’S CHURCH

AND THE ‘CRUSADER’ Emer Purcell discusses the recent vandalism and the history of the church

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Autumn 2024

www.archaeologyireland.ie

28 THE MERMAID’S ROCKS

AT SCURMORE, CO. SLIGO In this contribution to Folklore Focus Tamlyn McHugh considers a popular and widely known legendary creature 30 STONE CIRCLES AND

SOLAR RELIGION IN WEST CORK William O’Brien and Nick Hogan present the results of recent excavation of a Bronze Age stone circle and boulderburial 36 THE GREAT MILITARY

HEATH Stephen Callaghan brings to light a forgotten aspect of Laois’s military archaeology 39 THE SPIRALS ON

TIBRADDEN MOUNTAIN: A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY William Murphy tracks the solstice sunrise behind the mountains of Ellan Vannin

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€8.00 £6.75stg ISSN 0790-892x

Cover image: Steps leading out of St Michan’s crypt. Photo: Edmond O’Donovan.

48 TRACES conference

Details of the programme for the National Monuments Service 2024 conference 52 BOOK REVIEW

Duncan Berryman reviews Rethinking medieval Ireland and beyond: lifecycles, landscapes, and settlements— essays in honour of T.B. Barry, edited by Victoria L. McAlister and Linda Shine

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44 BETWEEN FAITH AND

MAGIC Eve Campbell describes apotropaic deposits from postmedieval houses on the N5 in Roscommon