Children’s Burial Ground in Loona, Co. Mayo
Burial grounds, often labelled as “children’s burial grounds,” --or known as a “lisheen” or “killeen” on OS maps (Michigan State University, 2009), were in use in Ireland from the early part of the 17th century onwards (Magrogan, 2019). At that point in Irish history, church authorities did not allow the burial of still born or unbaptized children in consecrated grounds. In response to this, special burial places, such as ancient abbeys or churches were used as final resting places for children who passed away so young. Ringforts, often thought to be special spiritual places in the past were sometimes used as grave sites as well (Michigan State University, 2009). These graves are also known as ‘cillini’ in Irish Gaelic.
Frequently, these burial grounds were located in isolated areas or on farmland. These areas are identified today as patches of uncultivated ground with low lying, uninscribed gravestones, or a collection of stones. Generally, however, killeens became less popular sites for children’s grave sites in the 20th century. Having mentioned that, there are records of burials in killeens as recently as the mid part of the 1960’s (Michigan State University, 2009).
The children’s burial site at Loona was said to be located roughly in the center of the ‘early ecclesiastical enclosure,’ which is also at Loona. It is the case however, that no trace of burials or grave markers are currently visible (Michigan State University, 2009).
What forces prompted the use and dis-use of cillini?
The evidence from archaeological and historical studies indicates that cillini proliferated following the 17th century. And their use continued until the mid-20th century. It is thought that new burial legislation in the Victorian era prompted the Catholic church to take more responsibility for the burial of the unbaptized with the creation of unconsecrated burial plots in Catholic graveyards. Scholars attribute the end of the practice of using unconsecrated grave plots to reforms in the church associated the Second Vatican Council in the 1960’s (Donnelly, Murphy, 2018). “The origin of cilliní is uncertain, but most scholars agree that the practice became commonplace in the Late Medieval and post-Medieval periods. Earlier in the Medieval period, it seems that infants and children were placed in a separate section of an active cemetery,” (Magrogan, 2019).
Who else were buried in cillini?
In Ireland, children’s burial grounds were often non-consecrated places which were used mainly, but not exclusively for unbaptized children. Setting aside a special place for the burial of unbaptized babies was common in Ireland until the 1800’s, but continued on a less frequent basis up until the mid-20th century. This was because the Catholic church stipulated that the burial of unbaptized babies in consecrated ground was not allowed. This practice was also carried out for victims of executions, suicide, famine and also for criminals, murders and disease. Frequently, children of unmarried mothers and children who had not received their first holy communion were not allowed to be buried in consecrated ground either. Sadly, also some families who could not afford the cost of a headstone or grave had to be buried in ‘cillini’--as these graves were also known (Costello, 2014).
Why were these grave locations chosen?
Many have presumed that the ground used for the burial of unbaptized children and-- the other aforementioned people groups-- was entirely unconsecrated, but perhaps this is not the case. Many studies have revealed that the ground used to bury these people was in fact originally land used for old churches, religious rituals of various kinds, sites of worship, or old derelict monastic sites etc. These sites while they were non-consecrated in the eyes of the Catholic church held some special sacred or religious status in times gone by (Costello, 2014)
In what parts of Ireland are these graveyards found?
The ‘Reading the Signs’ article (2020) referenced below quotes Donnelly and Murphy as saying, “Substantial numbers of cillíní exist in Ireland, some 1,444 across both jurisdictions; this distribution, however, is an uneven one, with 66% (954/1,444) of sites located in the west in counties Kerry, Galway and Mayo. Dating evidence derived from excavated cillíní would tend to suggest that in the majority of cases they were early modern date (87%; 20/23), and it can be suggested that the proliferation of cillíní appears to be directly associated with the reinvigorated Catholicism of the Counter-Reformation in Ireland.” (Donnelly, C. J. and Murphy, E. M., ‘Children’s burial grounds (cillíní) in Ireland’, in Ryan, S. (ed.), Death and the Irish: a miscellany (Dublin, 2016)— found below in ‘Reading the Signs,’ 2020).
Another perspective on cilliní…
Magrogan (2019) points out that, “cilliní were reserved for anyone considered ineligible for burial in consecrated ground.”
Magrogan (2019) also points out that one school of thought on cillini “emphasizes the emotions that parents often feel when losing a child and assert that parents felt that cilliní would prevent their children from feeling lonely.” Also, “evidence from oral histories suggests that despite many parents’ desires to remember their infant, many experienced pressure to forget,” (Magrogan, 2019) presumably because of the taboo associated with the death of unbaptized infants.
Magrogan (2019) presents the idea that “the influence of Catholic doctrine on baptism” meant “that unbaptized infants were considered the Other, and that placing them in a cillín was an attempt to forget or conceal them.” “Like children’s burial grounds in other parts of Europe,” cillini “also tend to be located in or near places with liminal qualities, such as cliffs, seashores, peat bogs, or townland boundaries” (Magrogan, 2019). It can be argued that maybe unconsciously the parents of these unbaptized children opted for these in-between, transitional areas on the margins because of the teaching of the Catholic church at the time. Magrogan (2019) writes that, “Scholars have explained the origin of cilliní as a response to the Counter-Reformation’s new doctrine on baptism, which was that infants who died before being baptized would be placed eternally in Limbo, a place 'on the edge of hell,’ for although these infants would not suffer, they would never achieve proper rest and would never go to Heaven.” Essentially, these children were thought to be in ‘limbo’ in the afterlife, as they were in ‘limbo’ in their burial places. In fact, “The scholars who most heavily emphasize the influence of church doctrine argue that it caused these infants to be excluded from society, and that their placement in a cillín was an attempt to forget or conceal them.” Some scholars “cite the placement of other marginalized people in cilliní,” … “and the fact that burials often took place at night, attended by only a few male relatives (sometimes only the child’s father), as evidence to support” the notion that “an infant’s death before baptism was considered shameful, and that it needed to be hidden, both through darkness and through an absence of witnesses, including the mother herself” (Magrogan, 2019).
But what did the graves themselves look like?
“Burials may have modest grave markers made of rough stone, stonelined graves, and timber coffins. Several archaeologists have reported that grave goods are rare, though some archaeologists have found figurines, throwing stones, and white quartz, especially in the form of water-worn pebbles,” (Magrogan, 2019).
References:
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Costello, G. (2014). Children’s Burial Grounds. Available at: https://skehana.galwaycommunityheritage.org/content/places-2/burials/childrens-burial-grounds Accessed 9th of October, 2024.
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Donnelly, C.J. and Murphy, E. (2018). Children’s Burial Grounds (Cillini) in Ireland: New Insights into an Early Modern Religious Tradition. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28280/chapter-abstract/214433267?redirectedFrom=fulltext Accessed: 16th of October, 2024.
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Magrogan, P. (2019). Children’s Burial Grounds in Ireland: An Attempt to Forget, or to Remember? Available at: https://edspace.american.edu/pm7172a/wp-content/uploads/sites/1359/2019/03/Magrogan-2019.pdf Accessed 16th of October, 2024.
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Michigan State University, Study Abroad Programme. (2009). Children’s burial ground (Loona). Internal Report: Folder 1, Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail—Clogher Environmental Group Ltd. Unpublished.
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Reading the Signs (2020). Remembering the Cillini & Those Buried There. Available at: https://readingthesigns.weebly.com/blog/remembering-the-cillini-those-buried-there Accessed 16th of October, 2024.