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Killasragh Childrens Burial Ground

Children's burial ground

What is recorded here

Killasragh Childrens Burial Ground is a stone-ringed pasture in County Limerick where local tradition holds that children and adult strangers were buried. It lies beside medieval earthworks and a moated site, while road excavations nearby uncovered numerous medieval features. The bank still marks a rectangular shadow in the grass, suggesting that this was not a random dump but a place set apart for the vulnerable and unknown.
In pasture on slight W-facing slope, 19m W of townland boundary with Attyflin, 200m N of townland boundary with Ballygeale, adjacent to earthworks of a possible medieval deserted settlement (LI021-025001-), trackway (LI021-025003-) and moated site (LI021-168----) located 193m to S. Excavations on the realignment Cork-Limerick (N20) road, 50m to the E revealed numerous features dating to the medieval period. Annotated 'Killasragh Childrens Burial Ground' on 1840 ed. OS 6-inch map. Described in 1840 as, 'Killasragh burying ground for children and adult strangers is situated in this townland' (OSNB Killonahan Parish, 1025). Burial ground used as a Killeen according to local tradition (Westropp, 1904-5, 380). Site visited by Celie O’Rahilly in 1990 during field work for the N20 road and described the site as following; ‘ The enclosure still survives but is very overgrown; it is possible that there are remains of a structure or enclosure wall on the perimeter’ (O’Rahilly 1991). Present remains consist of a roughly rectangular shaped area (dims. 30m N-S; 16m E-W) defined by an earth and stone bank (Wth 4.7m; H int. 0.35m; ext. 0.2m) from NW through E to SE and an earth and stone scarp from SE through to NW. Interior is undulating and overgrown, with lightly strewn loose rocks, none of which appear to be set as burial markers. Monument visible as a tree-covered earthwork covered on Google Earth orthoimage taken 2020. Compiled by: Fiona Rooney Date of upload: 21 July 2020

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What survives
Recorded monument

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