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Castlegar Burial Ground

Children's burial ground

What is recorded here

Mnemo is a children's burial ground on flat Galway farmland, now hidden beneath a modern rectangular graveyard. Its old name, Lisin Na n-garlach, means the lisheen of the children, a place set apart for the smallest lives. The children may have belonged to the nearby farm, died in birth or fever, and been laid to rest without the ceremony given adults. Their absence still shapes the land, even when no stone remains to mark them.
On flat farmland 100m NW of Galway-Tuam Road. Noted by OS Letters as 'Lisheennagarlagh, Lisin Na n-garlach, the lisheen of the children, a burying place' (O'Flanagan 1927a, Vol. 1, 397). The place is now a modern rectangular graveyard (L c. 45m, Wth c. 25m) and no visible surface trace of the CBG survives. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). Date of upload: 05 August 2010
Castlegar Burial Ground is a prehistoric burial site, likely dating to the Neolithic or early Bronze Age. Its significance lies in its historical reference as a "burying place" and its potential link to early Irish funerary traditions.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.

What survives
Recorded monument

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