What is recorded here

Crocknacally holds a children's burial ground beside a spring in County Mayo, marked by a large boulder called the Cailleach. Local tradition says unbaptised babies were buried close to the stone because the Hag would protect them. The forest has closed around that tender arrangement, leaving only damp earth, a slight rise and the memory of small lives kept safe under a strange guardian.

In forestry, in lowlying, rough ground adjacent to a spring. The surrounding landscape consists of expanses of boggy, marginal land, now largely forested, with the far horizon to SW defined by the Nephin Beg Mountains. According to local information, a large erratic boulder (1.3m NW−SE; 0.9m NE−SW; H 0.95m) marks the site of a children’s burial ground (pers. comm. Liam Heffron, 2017). The boulder was known in local tradition as the ‘Cailleach’ or Hag. Unbaptised babies were buried close to the stone to avail of the protection of the Hag. Immediately to W of the boulder is a 2m wide strip of damp ground through which the spring flows. Though not a holy well, the spring was viewed as being imbued with a sacred or special quality. Bordering the W side of the spring is a broad, low earthen bank (Wth c. 2m)/field boundary, which extends N−S but has a shallow curve for a length of c. 8m at this point. A slight rise (diam. 3-4m) is evident immediately to E of the boulder. A pine tree grows on the SE edge, and the rise may simply be a natural peaty accretion over the roots of the tree. There are no traces of graves at surface level. Image: SL020-004----_01 Viewed from W Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 17 August 2017

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