Children’s Burial Ground: Creggan, Co. Roscommon

Mattie Lennon, writing in Ireland’s Own magazine recently, described a burial ground for unbaptised children off the coast of County Donegal.  It is called Oilean na Marbh (the island of the dead). It reminded me of the children’s burial ground I knew as a child growing up in County Roscommon.

This graveyard, known locally as Caltragh, is located within a ringfort in the townland of Creggan near Ballaghaderreen. It consists of a rectangular grass-covered area approximately 21m x 14m. The ringfort is roughly circular measuring 57m x 53m and is partly surrounded by a drystone wall. Mature deciduous trees are growing inside the perimeter making it visible for some distance.

In the background: Children's Burial Ground
Creggan, County Roscommon

Children’s burial grounds are thought to have been first established in the medieval period.  In the fifth century AD, Augustine of Hippo declared that all unbaptised people were guilty of original sin. This prompted a debate in the Church which was to last for several centuries.  

From the sixth century the burial of unbaptised individuals in consecrated ground was forbidden. In the twelfth century the church declared that all newborn children had to be baptised. Parents had to bury their unbaptised children in alternative unconsecrated burial grounds.  As Mattie Lennon points out, we can scarcely imagine the heartbreak of the women in Ireland who were left to grieve silently as their babies were taken away at night to be buried secretly.  

Although children’s burial grounds are normally associated with stillborn and unbaptised children, others were buried there including people who committed suicide, mentally disabled, the shipwrecked, criminals, famine victims, strangers and even women who had not been ‘churched’ after childbirth.

These burial grounds are frequently associated with earlier monuments such as early/medieval ecclesiastical sites and ringforts. It is not unusual to find ogham stones at these sites. Some experts have noted that children’s burial grounds are often located close to field, lakeshore, seashore or townland boundaries. Archaeologists have suggested that this choice of location may have served to separate these individuals from ‘normal’ society.

The County Roscommon Graveyard Survey carried out in 2005 identified a total of 287 graveyards in the county. Children’s burial grounds accounted for 25% of the total surveyed. Over half the graveyards in the county are recorded on the Record of Monuments and Places. This is important as it means that these sites are protected under the National Monuments Act 1930-2004. They are nearly always listed on ordnance survey maps as Cillin/ Killeen, Lios/Lisheen, Caltragh, Teampaillin, or simply as Children’s Burial Ground.

Individual burials are frequently marked by small stones placed around the margins of the graves with the remains interred in a cist-like structure. Wooden coffins were often used while some individuals were wrapped in shrouds fixed with pins. In some respects, these burials were similar to those in contemporary consecrated burial grounds and simple stone grave-markers are still to be seen in old graveyards.

It is now believed that many of these ancient burial grounds are much older than previously thought. An excavation of a cillin in Tonybaun, County Mayo in 2003, identified a total of 248 burials of which 147 were infants and 23 were children aged between two and six years. None of the burials were earlier than the fifteenth century.

This excavation revealed that many of the bodies had been placed in wooden coffins. Some 55 adult burials were identified providing evidence of the practice of using such burial grounds for adults who were not considered eligible for burial in consecrated ground. The presence of items such as shrouds, pins, buttons and a small crucifix show that care and religious observance was associated with these burials.

In 2005/06 archaeologists excavated a children’s burial ground at Carrowkeel, County Galway. This site comprised an early medieval enclosure ditch with a cemetery in the eastern half. The remains of 158 individuals, mainly children, were identified with the burials taking place over 800 years from the seventh to the fifteenth century.

In 2004, Pope John Paul 11 appointed a Commission to study Limbo and it reported its findings in 2007. The report, signed by Pope Benedict XV1, stated that it reflected a ‘restrictive view of salvation’ and that it was reasonable to hope that the souls of unbaptised infants are admitted to Heaven by a merciful God.

As Mattie Lennon states, such burial places serve as a reminder of our unenlightened past and a monument to centuries of heartbreak.  For this reason, children’s burial grounds deserve to be preserved, suitably marked and maintained.

Drumanone Portal Tomb

Drumanone Portal Tomb - Co. Roscommon

Drumanone portal tomb or Dolmen is situated three kilometres west of Boyle town, Co. Roscommon, off the R294. It is one of the largest monuments of its type in Ireland and is thought to have been built sometime before 2000BC. This tomb lies some 300m north of the Boyle River close to Lough Gara. In order to view the tomb you have to cross the railway line with care ensuring that you close the gate behind you.

There are approximately 174 of these monuments in the country with the majority located in the northern half of the island. The tombs generally consist of two large boulders or portal-stones defining the entrance and a back-stone, all of which support the roof-stone or capstone.

Archaeologists believe that our ancient ancestors may have used a combination of wooden rollers, ropes and man/animal power to manoeuvre the giant stones into position. Ramps made of earth and stone may have been used to haul the large roof stones into place.

The rectangular chamber of the Drumanone tomb measures 2.2m x 1.95m and faces north east. The capstone measures approximately 4m x 3m. The sides of the chamber each consist of a single stone. The capstone has slipped back from the two portal stones forming the entrance and now looks like some kind of Stone Age satellite dish. The western stone has been tilted over by the weight of the slipped capstone and is now supported by a steel girder. The 1.2m space between the portals is closed by the door slab which is almost as tall as the portals. It is thought that these large stones may have come from the Curlew Mountains. A slight grass-covered cairn surrounds the stones

The Drumanone tomb was excavated by archaeologists in 1954 and was found to contain a considerable amount of cremated bone, indicating that the tomb was used to bury several individuals. A small polished stone axe was also found which archaeologists believe came from the Tievebulliagh Axe Factory in Co. Antrim. It is estimated that some 133 such stone axes were found along the shores of nearby Lough Gara. Other finds from this site include two flint flakes and a chert core scraper. Archaeologists believe that the presence of ‘Bann’ flakes at Drumanone may suggest the re-use of the site of an earlier structure. The land on which the tomb was built might, for example, have been a place for meeting or religious activity.

Poulnabrone Portal Tomb - Co. Clare

The iconic megalithic portal tomb at Poulnabrone in Co. Clare, one of Ireland’s most photographed archaeological sites, has revealed a wealth of information about the lives and burial customs of Ireland’s first farming communities. Here, archaeologists uncovered the remains of twenty two people, sixteen adults and six children, within the interior of the tomb including males and females.  It is thought that the bodies were firstly stored or buried elsewhere until they decomposed. The bones were then moved to the portal tomb for final burial.

Examination of the skeletal remains has given archaeologists an insight into the lives of the people who lived and built these tombs in the Neolithic or New Stone Age. They appear to have lived relatively short lives with only one person being older than 40. The arthritic condition of many of the neck and shoulder bones indicates that they worked hard and were used to carrying heavy loads. Examination of the teeth revealed that they suffered from periods of either malnutrition or infections, especially between the ages of three and six.

Archaeologists also found evidence that some of those buried at the Poulnabrone site had suffered violence.  One body, for example, had sustained a depressed fracture of the skull, possibly caused by being hit by a stone. In the case of another body, a fragment of a flint, probably an arrow head was found embedded in a hip bone.  It is believed that the Poulnabrone burials were deposited over a period of 600 years, between 3800 and 3200 BC, suggesting that the monument was probably an important burial place where only certain members of the community were allowed to be interred.

Whilst archaeologists do not have an actual date for the building of the Drumanone tomb it is believed to be over 4,000 years old and is an impressive example of its type. The findings from Poulnabrone and other similar sites give us an insight into the lives of the people who built Drumanone.

Reference: SMR Number RO005-105 (Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Record Details) on http://www.archaeology.ie. Compiled by Michael Moore. Posted24 August 2010