What is recorded here

Oak trees shade the Burial Ground within a Galway hillfort, where a small circular enclosure once held the dead before disappearing from later maps. The larger oval chamber still stands with a narrow eastern entrance, rising to a flat summit crowned by a solitary tree. George Blake died there in 1840, joining unnamed children and others whose rough stone markers barely break the grass. The chamber retains the quiet weight of a place set apart for the dead, even when the smaller inner ground vanished from human memory.

Within a hillfort (GA015-016----). On 1st ed. of OS 6-inch map, two small hachured enclosures are depicted in the interior: (a - GA015-016001-) an unnamed oval enclosure (c. 50m by c. 35m) on the hill summit, and (b - GA015-016002-) a small circular enclosure (D c. 10m), named 'Burial Ground', in SE quadrant, directly inside the bank of the hilltop enclosure. However, by the time of 3rd ed. (1916), the latter has disappeared and the words are are now appended to (a). No visible surface trace of (b) survives but (a) comprises a roughly oval enclosure (E-W 40m, N-S 35m) defined by a stone wall with a narrow entrance at E. The interior rises steeply to a flat summit crowned with a solitary tree. Beside the latter are two inscribed graveslabs, one of which is dedicated to George Blake, and dated 1840. A number of other rough stone grave-markers are also visible, including two probable children's graves in NW quadrant. (Knox 1911a, 109; Raftery 1976, 89) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 13 December 2017

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