What is recorded here

Half a hundred small graves crowd the east side of a shallow bowl where the Inny river cuts the north edge like a knife. On Good Fridays until the 1950s people walked a pattern between two stone wells and an old tree at the south end, turning the children's quiet field into a living map of mercy. The river keeps the shape clean; the grass keeps the names hidden.

Gortakilleen Burial Ground: This site, noted in the OSNB as an unenclosed burial place for children (Drummod, 21), is located in level pasture on the S bank of the Inny river. It consists of an approximately semicircular enclosure which measures 27m N-S x 54m E-W. It is formed on its N side by the river's 2m high meander scarp, and is defined elsewhere by a gapped earthen bank which is preserved to an average height of 1.2m and measures 1.8m wide. The overgrown interior has up to 100 uninscribed grave-markers, most of which are concentrated in its E half. Two stone-lined wells, formerly visible within the enclosure, and an old tree at its S end, acted as focal points for a pattern that was held here on Good Fridays up until the 1950s (local information). O'Connell reported ‘a particularly fine gullane known locally as a font' here (The Kerryman, 28/1/1939); this feature is no longer visible and may have been a bullaun stone. The above description is derived from O'Sullivan, A. and Sheehan, J. (compilers) 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University press. (1996), no. 983. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 18 June 2013

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