The place is almost invisible to the casual eye, yet the local name for it is anything but quiet. It is called Poll na Marbh, meaning the hole or pit of the dead.

Local tradition holds that this is the burial place of members of the O'Brien family who were killed by the O'Flahertys, two powerful Connacht dynasties whose rivalries shaped the west of Ireland throughout the medieval period. The O'Flahertys were the dominant lords of Connaught before the Elizabethan conquests, and their conflicts with other Gaelic families were frequent and, at times, brutal. Whether this particular site marks a single violent episode or accumulated deaths over time is not recorded. What is recorded, by the writer and cartographer Tim Robinson, is that skeletons have reportedly been uncovered at the site in recent years, lending some physical weight to the tradition. A second burial site lies approximately fifty metres to the south-west, suggesting that this small stretch of coastline may have served as an informal or emergency burial ground rather than a consecrated one. The absence of any inscribed markers, the eroding ground, and the proximity to the water all point to burials conducted in haste or in circumstances far outside normal ritual.