What is recorded here

Oilean na Marbh is a small Donegal island where stillborn infants and unidentified drowned adults were buried through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The local community erected a cross and plaque there in 2009, naming the children little angels and the adults mariners.

Recorded as 'Old Burial Ground (Disused)' on the 2nd and 3rd editions of the OS 6-inch map on the island named 'Illannamarve' (Oileán na Marbh). The island was used as a place of burial for stillborn and upbaptised infants during the 19th and 20th centuries. Several unidentified adult bodies washed ashore during that period were also buried there. A cross and plague were erected on the island in 2009 to commemorate those interred. The inscription on the plaque reads: ‘I ndíl chuimhne / ar na hAingle Beaga / agus na Mairnéalaigh / atá adhlachta ar Oileán na Marbh / ón 19ú to dtí 20ú aois / Suaimhneas síoraí tabhair daofa, a Thiarna / “Yes we will gather here at the river”/ Tógtha at on Phobal Áitúil / 9ú Lúnasa 2009’. In memory of the little angels and the mariners who are buried on Oileán na Marbh from the 19th to the 20th centuries. Grant them eternal rest, O Lord. “Yes we will gather at the river”. Erected by the local community, 9th July 2009. (Lacy et al. 1983, 312; No. 1771) Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 30 August 2012

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