What is recorded here
Children's Burial Ground in County Kerry holds unbaptised babies lost during the famine, marked only by scattered stones beneath thick briars. The earth rises slightly above the pasture, facing south toward The Paps of Dana, while a possible church and an old rath wait nearby in the same field. Local memory preserves what official records never named: small bodies buried without ceremony, forgotten by history but still held by the land.
In pasture, on a S-facing slope, with views S to The Paps of Dana. A raised rectangular area (18m E-W; 12m N-S), overgrown with bushes and briars, which according to local information was used for the burial of unbaptised babies during the famine times. Some stones, which may be grave-markers, were noted on the uneven surface of the raised area. It is named 'Children's Burial Ground' on the 1846 OS 6-inch map. This is the children's burial ground which was recorded in the 1940s in 'Páirc an tSéipéil' in Houlihan's land (Schools Manuscript, Co. Kerry). A possible church (KE068-004004-) exists in the same field. A rath (KE068-103----) lies c. 90m to the NNE.
Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork.
Date of upload: 31 January 2011
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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