Flat cemetery in Knockainy West — Report the wrong picture

What is recorded here

Eight bodies lay head-west in Knockainy West, some locked inside stone boxes and others bare against the earth. Men digging for sand broke the quiet, forcing a hurried rescue before the graves vanished or scattered. They may have belonged to Early Iron Age hunters or Early Christian villagers, but the dead keep that secret while the living forget.

Cist graves described by Raftery (1941, 304) as following: 'Clashmore, Knockainey West, Co. Limerick. Several extended inhumations. Some in slab-lined graves, some not'. This discovery of eight burials was described by O'Kelly (1944, 23) as; ''These cists were first uncovered in the course of digging for sand. A rescue excavation was carried out on behalf of the National Museum, when a total of about 8 burials was uncovered, some of which were unprotected skeletons. Others had been removed before the excavator's arrival and still others were left unexcavated. The bodies lay E-W with the heads to the W., and all were extended burials. There were no associated finds but in the vicinity of the graves a quern stone was found. It is probable that the graves belong to the Early Iron Age or to the Early Christian period'. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 09 August 2019

Cist graves, likely dating to the Early Christian or early medieval period. The site provides evidence of burial practices in west Limerick, including both slab-lined and unlined inhumations.

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