Children's burial ground

The National Monuments Service's description

A semi-circular area about 0.2 hectares bounded on the south by the Cloone River, on the west side by a low field boundary and elsewhere by a steep-sided incline. The area is covered by dense undergrowth except on the west side. This area is level and there are no evident man-made features such as grave markers or burial mounds. The Irish Folklore Collection Schools Survey of the 1930s (IFC S 448:318) records the presence of a field entitled 'Inis na Leanbh' in the townland of Kilquane where it is believed, unbaptised babies were once buried. The account records that the landowner encountered 'the bones of the little babies' during the course of ploughing (O'Hare 1997, 16).

Folklore collected from Kilmurry School recorded the following tradition about this burial ground; 'Folklore about burial of unbaptised babies long ago. There is a field called 'lnis na leanbh' in John Sullivan's land Kilquane Cordal,. This is where young babies were buried who died without baptism. It is said that John Sullivan's grandfather was ploughing the field and he used to meet the bones of the little babies, and at night he used to hear all the babies crying. This went on night after night till at last he had to level all the field out again after ploughing it and make no use of it for tillage. When this was done he never after heard the babies crying' (The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0448, Page 318;https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4706361/4706229).

Compiled by: Matt Kelleher

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 17 May 2022

References

O'Hare, P. 1997 A brief note on a number of children's burial grounds in east Kerry. The Kerry Magazine 8, 11-17.