Burial Ground, Lahardaun, Co. Clare

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Burial Grounds

Burial Ground, Lahardaun, Co. Clare

On a very steep north-west-facing slope in County Clare, enclosed by mature oaks and half-consumed by briars, there is a burial ground that cattle now wander through, their hooves cutting paths through the undergrowth and exposing the orange-brown clay beneath.

Loose stones lie scattered along the levelled north-west margin without forming any coherent pattern, and no gravemarkers have been positively identified, though the density of the briars means absence of evidence is not quite the same thing here as evidence of absence. What makes the place quietly arresting is the combination of the deeply sloping terrain, the enclosing woodland, and the fact that, by local account, both adults and children were laid to rest within its boundaries.

The site was recorded as early as 1839, when a writer named Curry referred to it as Tubber Mochuilla burying ground, the name preserving a reference to a holy well that still exists a short distance to the south. Holy wells in Ireland were frequently focal points for burial, particularly for unbaptised infants, and the proximity here suggests a long-established ritual landscape in which well and burial ground functioned together. The roughly rectangular enclosure, approximately 45 metres north-west to south-east and 40 metres north-east to south-west, is defined on its upper sides by a low earthen field bank and on its lower sides by a deep land drain. It appears on all the Ordnance Survey historic mapping of the area, consistently labelled, which points to continuous local awareness of the site across at least two centuries.

The burial ground sits within rough pasture on most sides, with coniferous forestry pressing in from the north. The steep interior slope levels off only along the north-west margin, where the scattered stones and the largest flat ground are found. Access to the interior is interrupted by dense briar growth, and the cattle activity has left the ground significantly disturbed. The holy well associated with the site lies just to the south, off-centre within the broader enclosure area, and is recorded separately.

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