The Ordnance Survey six-inch map of 1842 labels it plainly as a "Children's Burial Ground", which places it within a tradition that was once widespread across Ireland: the cillín. These were informal, unconsecrated burial places used for unbaptised infants and occasionally others who, under Catholic practice, could not be interred in consecrated ground. The word cillín derives from the Irish for a small church or cell, and such sites tend to occupy marginal land, often ancient, often quietly kept by local memory long after the practice faded.

The site itself is subcircular in shape, roughly 22 metres across from east to west, and sits in rough grazing land. Its boundaries are modest but readable: a low scarp marks the eastern edge, while a field fence defines the western side. Grave markers have been recorded within it. The 1842 Ordnance Survey mapping is the earliest firm documentary reference to its function, though the ground may well have been in use considerably earlier. Sites of this kind often accumulated use across generations, with families returning to the same patch of earth over long periods without formal record.