Cillín

These burial areas were also used for the recently deceased who were not allowed in consecrated churchyards, including the mentally disabled, suicides, beggars, executed criminals, and shipwreck victims.

[1] The types of locations used for these unconsecrated grounds include: abandoned graveyards and churches, castle ruins, ancient earthenworks and megalithic cairns.

It has been theorized that cilliní were established during this time period as a result of strict reforms implemented by the Catholic Church during the Counter-Reformation regarding unbaptized infants, and continued to be used until the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

[3][2] The study of 19th century maps, local histories, and interviews with community elders have helped preserve the location of many cillíni, but as people moved away from small towns, many of these sites were lost.

[2] There has also been recent interest in the depiction of such sites in Irish literary texts such as Tom Murphy's play Bailegangaire and Mary Leland's novel The Killeen (both from 1985).

[6] Today, many towns and villages in Ireland are recovering human remains from cilliní and moving these once excluded individuals to consecrated churchyards.

[7] In August 2014, at St. Patrick's Church in Cushendun, a religious ceremony led by the parish priest and attended by many in the community, celebrated the reburial of 19 children's skeletons.