What is recorded here

Knockaunnamban Grave Yard stands on a grassy hill above Omey Island, holding a circular earthen enclosure where local tradition reserved burial for women. The degraded bank still marks the boundary, while a lost cross-slab once gave the place a visible Christian face. Women may have chosen this height because death looked smaller when viewed from above the sea.

On the summit of a small grassy hill overlooking N shore of Omey Island. Known locally as Cnocán na mBan, it was, according to local tradition, a burial place reserved for women. It consists of a roughly circular enclosure (D 30m) defined by a much-degraded earthen bank best preserved at S where traces of an external stone revetment can be seen. A cross-slab (GA021-005001-) from the island (Wakeman 1891, 354; Crawford 1913, 152), now lost, has recently been provenanced to this graveyard (OPW file). (Higgins 1987, vol. 11, 299, no. 28) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Updated by: Olive Alcock Date of revised upload: 7 April 2016

A roughly circular enclosure on a hilltop, possibly a ring cairn or fulachta fiadh, with local tradition suggesting it was a women's burial site. Its significance lies in its potential reflection of early social practices and gender-specific burial customs in the region.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.