An cillín

A brain wrecking morning with stuff that needed doing, we decided a walk was in order and headed down to Trá  Ruaim. It was cooler but crystal clear, the colours amazing. I am now recycling my extras and have added a few other of the sights passed. This is a cillín, a burial ground for the unbaptised. There are officially 1,393 cilliní in Ireland but the true figure is thought to be much higher. The unbaptised were not considered suitable for Heaven as still full of sin, so the stillborn, the infants, the suicides, the strangers were all buried surreptitiously and at  night in a cillín. Often these were near something considered sacred - a holy well a fairy fort, a Mass rock or at a marginal spot - a boundary site that sort of reflects the limbo these souls found themselves in. Many are forgotten and unmarked but this one has been restored and is beautifully kept but still poignant when you see the jumble of little gravemarkers within.  An interesting article here. 


Lament