St Nicholas’ Old Graveyard is situated just outside the beautiful village of Adare in County Limerick. There are two church ruins within the graveyard, one dedicated St Nicholas, built in the 13th century and rebuilt in the 16th century, this was the old Church of Ireland parish church until 1806. The second church, a Chapel of Ease, dates from the 16th century, this chapel may have served as a place of private worship of the Quin family who were the local Dunraven Earls, several members of the family are buried within the chapel. One of the most poignant headstones in the graveyard is a small plaque on the wall near the entrance marking the grave of the ‘Seven babies of Delia and Peter Shaw’, I have been unable to find any more information about this tragedy but it appears all seven may have died during childbirth or shortly afterwards, a chilling reminder of an Ireland which had some the highest infancy death rates in Europe in the early 20th century.

GPS: 52.56585, -8.78911