The boreen leading to Tullycrine Holy Well and the Children's Fort.
Although it was a grey, rather dreary looking day in Kilkee, the weather was mild and calm with no rain to speak of. The mild weather, along with it being a weekend in late July, had Kilkee doing a great impression of the Wisconsin Dells. Rows of cars crept through O’Curry Street, filled with families geared up for their holiday in this summertime resort town. For me, it was a good time to leave in search of quieter surroundings.
With no place in particular in mind we made a journey to Killimer, a town on the Shannon River, so that Eoin could watch the Shannon Ferries carry people and their cars back and forth across the wide river between County Clare and County Kerry.
Like many loosely planned journeys, this one presented an interesting side trip. Taking the long route to Killimer and driving through the townland of Tullycrine in Kilmurry-McMahon, I spotted a brown sign pointing the way to a holy well and “children’s burial ground”. This piqued my interest so I made a quick right turn and ventured down along a quiet, narrow country road, eventually locating our unplanned destination.
Tullycrine Holy Well
The sign at the gate indicated that we had arrived at what appeared to be two sites in one, the Tullycrine Blessed Well and Lios na Leanaí, the Children’s Fort/Burial Ground. The area was deserted and very quiet, except for the sound of cows in a nearby field. After opening the gate we made our way up an incline walking along a gravel boreen to the holy well. This particular well came complete with holy statues and even a couple of kneelers.
Ignore the reflection of my Converse All Stars at the bottom of the sign!
There was no sign explaining the significance of the Tullycrine Holy Well. However, like most holy wells, this was likely once a sacred pagan well, eventually acquired and renamed by the Christians as they tried to replace the old ways with the “new”.
Beyond the well, there was another gate and a walk further up the hill where we found the signs, topped by a large marble Celtic Cross, indicating the Children’s Burial Ground. As I suspected, this was a place where, for centuries and up until the late 1950′s, unbaptized babies were buried, along with a few adults who, for one reason or another, were not buried on Church holy ground. Venturing past the signs and the gate, I was quite surprised to see that, if I am not mistaken, the burial ground lies within what appeared to me to be one of the many ancient ring forts found around Ireland.
Gate and path to the top of the mound surrounding the Children's Burial Ground.
After climbing up the side of the mound and looking within, it was startling to see the bleak and very rough sight of dozens of oddly shaped stones that at first appeared to be randomly laying about. However, upon closer inspection I realized that most of the stones were actually stacked very thoughtfully, to form tiny graves. This poignant sight brought a heavy wave of sadness and regret over me and touched Eoin as well. It was heart-rending to ponder the parents who so tenderly arranged these rocks around the graves of their children in such a lonely place.
Below are photos of the site and just a few of the tiny graves.
At first it appeared to be stones just laying randomly about.
16 comments
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July 23, 2011 at 9:23 pm
Declan
I could feel the sadness and I only have the photographs
July 24, 2011 at 4:46 am
bloggingfromthebog
We should go there when you get here, it isn’t very far away.
July 24, 2011 at 6:15 am
Eoin
Me too.
July 24, 2011 at 6:22 am
bloggingfromthebog
It wasn’t all sad though, it was also a pretty interesting thing to see. I’m glad we went there.
July 24, 2011 at 8:44 am
lifeonthecutoff
I felt a tug at my heart here, Janet. Such a tender post. The graves look like little beds for the babies to rest in.
The well is interesting. I recently read a Maeve Binchy book that had a holy well prominent placed in the story and couldn’t quite imagine what it looked like. This helps me visualize it.
July 24, 2011 at 1:54 pm
bloggingfromthebog
I hardly knew what to write, the photos of the little graves say so much on their own. All the holy wells I’ve seen look different from each other. I’ll be posting about a nearby well in Kilkee and you can see how different that one looks from the Tullycrine well.
July 24, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Patricia
Janet, you’re becoming an excellent local historian. That is a very moving picture. I can only imagine the grief of all the broken hearted parents those little makeshift gravestones represent. I remember seeing something similar in Mayo years ago but can’t remember where exactly. Prior to Vatican II, the unbaptized (mainly stillborn babies and those who died shortly after birth) could not be buried in so called consecrated ground except for some reason in Glasnevin cemetery where they were allowed to be buried in a special ‘Angels Plot’. My grandmother always made us stop and say a prayer for them on our annual outing to visit family graves as “they would be forever in Limbo” due to not being baptized. Irish class is over until the first week of September…..John is off on some family visits and reunions, so you will probably be back by the time we regroup. Declan has probably told you we’ve had enough monsoon like rain over the past couple of nights to make Ireland seem positively desert like, so make the most of it!
July 25, 2011 at 6:18 am
bloggingfromthebog
Recently the Church closed the gates on “Limbo” didn’t it Patricia? Imagine what a horror it must have been for parents who believed in all that.
I’ve heard a lot about the weather in Chicago from Declan who cannot wait to escape it when he arrives in Dublin on Sunday. Although we’ve had a few days that have been described to me by locals as being “as bad as it gets” I would not trade with Chicago!
I see I’m not missing anything as far as Irish class goes, however once again, I brought Buntús Cainte along with big plans and have only opened it once!
July 26, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Janet (Country Mouse}
What a sad and beautiful place. I can’t imagine believing that innocent infants would be in limbo. I’m sure many knew better in their hearts.
Your photos and descriptions add fuel to my imagination. The names and places always sound very familiar and homey to me even though I have never been there. I have Irish ancestors so perhaps I feel a kinship.
Thank you for sharing such a beautiful post.
July 26, 2011 at 12:44 pm
bloggingfromthebog
Janet, thank you for your kind words, I’m glad you enjoyed the post and photos. I love the place names too and try to include them whenever I can because I think they do as much to convey the atmosphere and personality[ies] of Ireland as do the photos!
July 27, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Kate
Those pictures took my breath away. Being in Ireland and visiting places like this is such an amazing, very corporeal experience. It is like you can almost feel the emotion tied up in each inch of the country. This is the part of visiting Ireland that you just can’t explain to people or show them through pictures. This country that has so vivid of a past, whether good or bad has a type of vibration that I have never felt anywhere else. Its an incredibly humbling experience to be able to touch history like that. I miss it!!
July 27, 2011 at 3:17 pm
bloggingfromthebog
Kate, this site was a real surprise. The combination of the ring fort, the history of centuries of use and the little graves surrounded by stones made it one of those places that give you goosebumps. Also, it is an obscure, out of the way place so we were able to experience it in total seclusion. We must have spent at least an hour there and and other than the cows and a couple dogs barking we didn’t see another person or even a car drive down the road while we were there.
July 27, 2011 at 1:16 pm
Kevin
Wow. Really great post. Amazing how much care they put into placing each stone.
July 27, 2011 at 3:25 pm
bloggingfromthebog
That’s what really got to me Kevin, the care involved in placing those stones. Since the parents, probably very devout, did not have the comfort that consecrated ground or Church rites would have given them, they did what little they could on their own to honor their infants.
August 2, 2011 at 10:07 am
mark
that is right beside my house
August 2, 2011 at 4:57 pm
bloggingfromthebog
Mark, your house is located in a beautiful spot then, and maybe it was your dog that was barking in the distance! That site, especially the Children’s Burial Ground, really leaves a strong impression.