What is recorded here

Killbeg was a little burying place for children on a gentle slope in County Clare, recorded by O'Donovan in 1839 and marked on maps until the site vanished from view. The ground slipped between survey lines and heavy growth, hiding what was once plainly known. It may still lie beneath the eastern brambles, waiting for someone to walk the field and remember the small lives buried there.

Situated towards the top of a gentle NW-facing slope in a gently undulating karst landscape. Listed as ‘Burial ground’ in the SMR (1992) and the RMP (1996). O’Donovan 1839 (Comber 1997, 173) mentions a ‘little burying place for children, called Killbeg, in the townland of Fanruis’. There is a townland called Faunrusk nearby to the north of Ballymulqueeny but it is likely that ‘Kylebeg Burial ground’ as it is named on the 1840 OS 6-inch map in Ballymulqueeny is what O’Donovan was referring to. Named ‘Kylebeg Burial Ground’ on the 1840 OS 6-inch map but named ‘Kylebeg Children’s Burial Ground (Disused)’ on the 1920 edition. The extent of the burial ground is indicated on both maps by a dotted line. However, the 1840 edition places it some 15m to the west of the 1920 location as does the OS 25-inch map where the name is given as ‘Kylebeg Burial Ground (site of)’ implying that it was no longer extant. On inspection in 2000 no trace of the burial ground was found at the 25-inch map location. However, an overlay of the maps with current aerial imagery indicates that the dotted area shown on the 1920 map lies within the heavy overgrowth at the E side of the field. It is possible that remains may still be extant in that particular area. Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 13 October 2020

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