What is recorded here

Dotted outline marks a small church and circular burial ground in County Kerry, Ireland, where infant deaths were said to be common. The church walls stood about three feet high inside a forty-metre ditch, drawing grief and memory to one quiet place. That repeated loss may have shaped the town’s habits, beliefs and compassion long after the stones faded.

Depicted on the 1841 ed. OS 6-inch map as a small rectangular church (KE029-042002-) standing on S quadrant of small circular-shaped earthwork (KE029-042002-) shown with a dotted outline. According to the Ordnance Survey Name Books, the walls of which stood; 'about 3 ft. [0.9m] high placed in the centre of a circular spot about 2 chains [40m] in diameter encompassed by a fosse or old stone ditch. Infants are to said to be sometimes interred in it' (OSNB Parish of Ratass, 43). Earthwork depicted on 1841 ed. OS 6-inch map may have the been the boundary ditch of a burial ground associated with the church which was later reused as a children's burial ground. Outline of earthwork visible on Digital Globe orthoimage taken between 2011-13 and on Google Earth orthoimages. See attached Google Earth orthoimages Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 15 June 2022

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