Forty years ago, we walked up to the Omey causeway and we came across what was clearly a burial ground. Back then I took a photo of one of the graves in a graveyard setting.
There it is, with others – a roughly marked grave with a clear headstone and footstone.
I was interested to know more at the time, but never found out. Forty years ago we didn’t ask but with age comes different attitudes. So this time, Kriss, campsite owner, had suggested it was all children buried there. He wondered if it might have been a hasty burial ground from the time of the great famine from 1845 to 1852 when a million people of Ireland died of hunger (and another million emigrated to escape the famine).
We showed the picture above to the archaeologist who was on the campsite and he, too, speculated on the famine. Our very modern map marked the site and called it ‘Cillin’ in historic site writing. The word conveyed no meaning to us at the time. Now, wikipedia can help.
A cillín (Irish: meaning "little church or burial ground";
plural cillíní), was a historical unconsecrated burial place in Ireland for children unbaptised at the time of death. Suicides, shipwrecked sailors, strangers, urepentant murderers
and their victims were also sometimes buried there—they were used for
"infants and other ambiguous categories of individual". Some
of them are more than 1,000 years old. Ancient pagan burial practices were
sometimes later co-opted by Christianity.
So now, lets get there in 2011 – a short walk from the campsite.
This was Kriss’s dog. Forty years previously, Wellington the donkey did his round of the tents. Now it was the dog.
Here’s the Cillin. It was hard to count just how many graves there were
The Cillin is very close to ‘our’ beach. Yes, somebody had left a child size chair.
Graves and flowers on the Actons Cillin.
We wondered if this stone had once had writing to be seen.
The harebells were a delight. Nobody knows – as far as we have found out – who is buried here, but the flowers make a good memorial.
Looking towards Claddaghduff.
Across the Cillin and the sea to Omey. To me, that captures the peace and tranquillity on offer.
Aha! It is our beach and beyond is the island of Inishturk. Let’s make our way down.
On the beach.
And so, back to the tent. Goodnight.
As a postscript – the Wikipedia page on Claddaghduff has the following information. Gallach is the address of Actons. The guesses, it seems, are right.
