What is recorded here

Caldragh Burial Ground in County Mayo, Ireland, holds small upright stones and low stony hummocks marking the graves of unbaptised babies and occasionally older children until the mid-20th century. The dense square patch lies inside a possible cashel, with a wind-twisted hawthorn on the west side locally called the umbrella tree. Children’s deaths may have come from fever, birth or forgotten fevers in crowded houses, yet the ground still separates what the church would not take from the ordinary field.

In the SE half of a possible cashel (MA082-016001-). Indicated as ‘Caldragh Burial Ground’ on the 1838 OS 6-inch maps and ‘Caldragh (Chidren’s burial Ground)’ on the 1916 edition. A roughly square area (c. 19m NE–SW; c. 19m NW–SE) in the SE half of the cashel interior is covered in a dense concentration of small, uninscribed upright stones and low, sod-covered stony hummocks, which mark graves. Remnants of an enclosing wall (Wth 1m) define the NW side of the area. According to local information, it was in use until the mid-20th century for the burial of unbaptised babies and occasionally for older children too. A single, wind-twisted hawthorn tree, which stands on the W side of the burial ground, is known locally as the ‘umbrella tree’. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 20 December 2021

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