What is recorded here

Caldragh Church Yard is a burial ground on a south-facing slope in County Longford where four bishops may have slept beneath the soil. The name comes from Cealltrach, an old churchyard, yet the valley still carries the weight of those sacred lives. A modern house now stands above the ground where bones emerged during excavation, reminding us that the dead are not forgotten but transformed into the living structure of the place.

On a S-facing slope. Named 'Caldragh Church Yard' on the 1837 ed. of the OS 6-inch map and 'Site of' on the 1914 ed. This townland was known as: 'Gleann na n-Easbog, Vallis Episcoporum, Valley of the Bishops’ and was so named because ‘it contains an old graveyard, in which, according to tradition, four bishops are buried' (OSNB, Ardagh parish, 1836-7, book 4, 51). The OS Letters (1837) refer to it as a 'churchyard’ (OSL, 39). The English form of the name 'Caldragh' derives from the Irish Cealltrach meaning ‘old churchyard’: the element ceall meaning ‘church’, but the name was generally used to refer to a place of burial. The name has also come to be associated with locations used as the burial grounds of unbaptised children. However, there is no evidence to suggest that a children's burial ground existed here. The site is occupied by a modern house. A quantity of bone was discovered during the excavation of the house foundations (local information). Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan, Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 15 April 2013

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