Parknakilla Grave Yard for Children — Mountallon

On an elevated area of a low knoll, in dense impenetrable vegetation, surrounded by low lying and gently undulating pasture and woodland. Depicted on the 1840 edition of the OS 6-inch map as a subrectangular area and named ‘Parknakilla Grave Yard for Children’. It retains a similar outline and is named ‘Children’s Burial Ground’ on the OS 25-inch map and 1921 edition of the OS 6-inch map. This was not accessible due to dense, impenetrable overgrowth on and around the monument. There is a natural plateau in the pasture field to the immediate NE. A field boundary (long axis NW-SE) respects the children’s burial ground NNW-NE, where it projects outwards, as depicted on OS historic mapping. According to Curry in 1839 (OSL, vol. 2, 305), Park-na-kille was the name of this field and in Irish, the townland name is Maidhm-Talmhan. This placename refers to a massacre or in this case, perhaps a mass burial associated with a famine. The following image has been uploaded: CL035-130----_01.jpg From E. General view of area of monument taken from pasture field at N. Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 14 January 2019