What is recorded here

Killeen Burial Ground in County Kerry, Ireland, stopped receiving children in the late nineteenth century, yet a narrow underground passage still cuts northeast beneath the slope above the Blackwater river. Trees now grow among the hidden grave markers, and a fire trench splits the small area, but the dark tunnel remains open at the edge, inviting wonder about where it leads and who dug it.

This severely disturbed site, no longer in use by the late nineteenth century, is located in a forestry plantation on a SW slope overlooking the Blackwater river. The unenclosed burial area measures 20.7m N-S x 20.3m E-W. Trees have recently been planted within it. The site is bisected by a fire-prevention trench and a modern track skirts it at SW. It is otherwise covered in a layer of dense vegetation, which largely obscures the N-S rows of upright grave-markers which occur throughout the site. The site is recorded in the OSNB as an 'old small fort which is a noted place for burying children' (Templeno, 45). It does not display any ringfort-type features, but an opening to a Man-made underground passage is located externally at SW. This measures 1.1m wide x .55m high and leads into an earth-tunnelled passage which extends to NE and measures .7m high and 1.2m wide. A depression, centrally located in the site's interior, may indicate its further extension in this direction. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 999. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 July 2013

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