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Children's burial ground in Doire Iorrais

Children's burial ground

What is recorded here

An Chill Bheag hides beneath alders on a north-facing slope in Doire Iorrais, marking a children's burial ground where small set stones still outline east-west graves. The compact rectangular space leans against a scarp and field walls, preserving a concentration of markers at the southwest corner. A single wooden cross once stood among them, suggesting local families returned to tend these losses rather than abandon them to the woods.
On N-facing hillslope, under alders, c. 50m S of a stream which forms the td. boundary. Known locally as An Chill Bheag or Reilig na bPáistí, it consists of a roughly rectangular area (L 17m, Wth 11.5m) bounded on S and W by modern field walls, on N by a scarp, but unenclosed elsewhere. Numerous small set stones are visible, indicating graves oriented E-W, with a particular concentration at SW. One small wooden cross was also present. (Robinson 1985, 46) 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
Children's burial ground in Doire Iorrais is a prehistoric inhumation cemetery, likely dating to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Its local name and layout suggest a small, community-specific burial site, significant for understanding regional funerary practices and settlement patterns in the area.

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What survives
Recorded monument

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