What is recorded here

Two small circular altars of slabs sit beside a children's burial ground within a promontory fort in County Mayo. One altar lies inside the burial area, the other stands fifty-four feet west, both heaped with white quartz pebbles according to Westropp's account. They are barely three feet high yet dense enough to mark the edge of a place where young lives were laid to rest. The contrast between tiny children's graves and sturdy stone altars suggests a community that honored the dead with deliberate craft rather than fleeting ritual.

Located within a children's burial ground (MA075-001010) in the SE quadrant of a rath (MA075-001008), and enclosed within a promontory fort (MA075-001001-). Two small circular features labelled ‘Altars’ are indicated on the 1920 OS 6-inch map, one (MA075-001011-) within the children’s burial ground and one (MA075-001012-) to W of the burial ground. They are both listed in the SMR (1991) and the RMP (1997) as 'altar'. Westropp (1911, 30; 1914, 315) described this leacht as ‘ a circular ‘altar’ of slabs 6 feet [1.8m] each way and barely 3 feet [0.9m] high, heaped with white quartz pebbles. A similar leacht [MA075-001012-] stands outside the Killeen 54 feet [c. 16m] westward.’ (1914, 315). Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 7 August 2015

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