Grave Yard, Aughinish, Co. Clare

Co. Clare |

Burial Grounds

Grave Yard, Aughinish, Co. Clare

In a field near the western end of a low ridge on Aughinish island in County Clare, a small enclosure sits at a quiet remove from the parish church, roughly 230 metres to its south-east.

What makes it distinctive is its shape: the drystone walls, sometimes single, sometimes doubled, trace a boat-like outline, stretching about 29 metres east to west and nearly 18 metres at its widest point north to south. That oval, vessel-like form is unusual, and it sets this ground apart from the more rectangular enclosures typically associated with later churchyard tradition in Ireland.

The graves themselves are concentrated towards the western side of the interior, and they are marked not by inscribed headstones but by plain flat slabs laid flush or nearly flush with the ground. These are most likely the graves of children, specifically unbaptised infants, who by Catholic doctrine were historically excluded from consecrated ground. Such burial places, known in Irish as cillíní or, more colloquially, children's burial grounds, were often located at marginal or liminal spots in the landscape, on boundaries, near ancient earthworks, or in places already carrying a sense of otherness. The one adult concrete headstone present carries no date, which leaves its story unresolved. The enclosure's relationship to the nearby Aughinish church is not documented, but the spatial separation, combined with the character of the graves, suggests this was a deliberately distinct site rather than an overflow extension of the main churchyard.

The site sits in pasture, so the ground underfoot may be uneven and the low ridge subtle enough to miss on approach. The flat grave markers, worn smooth and largely unlettered, are easy to overlook from a distance; they become legible mainly when you are standing close and the light is at a low angle.

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Pete F
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