Burial ground in Inchcleraun

The presence of a burial ground inside the monastic cashel (LF021-048----) was recorded in 1860, when Gordon Hills (1860, 340) wrote that; ‘the beautiful greensward around the eastern group [of churches] cannot be dug without bringing to light evidences of a graveyard’. No inscribed gravemarkers or headstones are visible today, and there are no surface remains visible of any enclosed burial ground inside the monastic cashel. It is possible that some of the low cairns visible inside the monastic cashel represent burial sites. Bigger (1900) described the presence of ‘heaps of stone so numerous on the island, which probably represent graves, as it is a usual custom to cover graves with stones, and carn burial is still a favourite custom’. The vault depicted in the E quadrant of the enclosure on the 1836 ed. OSi 6-inch map may be related to this burial ground. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 17 February 2023

Monastic burial ground, early medieval period. Significance lies in its association with a monastic cashel, indicating a religious and funerary site of local importance.