Enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on a terrace on an E-facing slope, overlooking Lackan Bay, at the SE edge of the hamlet of Rathlackan.
This enclosure is indicated as ‘Grave Yard’ on the 1838 OS 6-inch map, where it is depicted as a roughly square enclosure, with a rectangular structure or building (MA008-001003-) in the centre; on the 1922 edition it is shown as circular in plan, marked as ‘Children’s Burial Ground’, and the building is not shown.
Circular area (39m N–S; 37.5m E–W) defined by a bank (Wth 3.2m; int. H 0.6m; ext. H 1m at NW) faced in parts with dry-stone walling. The stone facing occurs on both the interior and exterior faces of the bank; at NW it takes the form of a kerb of large stones on the inner face. Some of the stone facing appears to be the result of incorporation of the enclosure into a system of later field walls. There is a break (Wth 6m) in the bank at W, but no clearly defined entrance feature.
The interior appears slightly raised relative to exterior ground level. A low square platform in the centre of the interior may be the foundations of a building/church (MA008-001003-). According to local tradition, the enclosure was used as a children’s burial ground (MA008-001002-), and was traditionally known as ‘Killwee’ (Aldridge 1969, 85).

Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 1 July 2019

References

Aldridge, R.B. 1969 Notes on children's burial grounds in Mayo. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 99, 83-87.