Click here to read an extract from an article on "Children's Burial Grounds in County Mayo" which was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (JRSAI) in 1969. The extract was written by R. B. Aldridge and is an introduction to a survey of the Children's Burial Grounds, and other forgotten burial grounds, in the west of Ireland. They were primarily used for burying unbaptised children but a letter from a person in Co. Roscommon, which was published in the 2006 August edition of
"Ireland's Eye", states that older children and adults would also have been buried in these graves which were known as
"cillínigh" or babies burial grounds. The writer mentioned that a white polished stone, or a pebble, was usually placed on the grave and wondered why that was done. There's another article on the subject ...
"Irish Customs ... Birth and Babies" on a page of the "From Ireland © Dr. Jane Lyons of Dublin website.
The Esker Riada Ridge in the New Inn area of East Galway page on
William (Billy) Finnerty's website contains a photograph of an area that used to be a Children's Burial Ground.
