What is recorded here

Kilbrack Burial Ground in Ballykissane is a raised rectangular pasture where unbaptised children were laid to rest until the early twentieth century. The earth still holds low upright markers and the faint outline of a small stone chamber, while a hidden boulder beneath a tree carries ancient cupmarks and ringed dots. What seems like an ordinary field is actually a layered witness, keeping both human grief and much older mystery alive under the grass.

Kilbrack Burial Ground/Cill Bhreac: This site, noted as a burying ground in the OSNB (Killorglin, 36), is located in undulating pasture a short distance S of the Laune estuary. It survives as a raised area, roughly rectangular in plan, which abuts the townland boundary at W. Measuring 20m N-S x 36.5m E-W, its N side is almost flush with the external ground level. A number of boulders define its E side, and elsewhere it averages .75m high above surrounding ground level. The upper surface of the interior is uneven and heavily over-grown, and numerous low upright grave-markers occur throughout. The interment of unbaptiscd children continued here until the early twentieth century (local information). The poorly preserved remains of a rectangular structure are located in the SW quadrant. Its longer axis is orientated WNW-ESE and it measures 8.7m x 4.2m internally. Remnants of stone facing, indicating a wall width of lm, can be distinguished at its E side, but elsewhere the wall survives as a .5m high band of collapse. A possible entrance gap, .7m wide, is located towards the W end of its S side-wall. A modern structure is located at the S edge of the site. Located beneath a tree within the N half of the site's interior is a large boulder, 1.1m x .9m, on the SE sloping upper surface of which are a number of rock art motifs. A natural fissure divides this surface into two unequal parts and incorporates a number of cupmarks along its length. The decoration consists of fourteen cupmarks and four cup-and-rings. The above description is derived from O'Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. (compilers) 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University press. (1996), no. 981. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 18 June 2013

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