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Srahwee : Wedge Tomb

CountyMayo
Grid RefL 795 745
GPSL 79542 74462 (7m)
Longitude9° 49' 27.72" W
Latitude53° 42' 21.3" N
Nearest TownWestport (22.6 Km)
OS Sheet37
UTM zone29U
UTM x445583.53991201
UTM y5951118.2404537
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Visit Notes

Sunday, 6th July 2003

Since I started hving an interest in Irish sites this is one of those that I have always wanted to visit. This is why I made such a stupidly long detour today to get here. There are other great sites in the area to go to, which due to time constraints i will not be visiting this time around and so I'll definitely be back this way, possibly next week!

When i first saw pictures of it the tomb stood remotely next to a large rocky outcrop, presumably from where the stones to build it were quaried from. Now a bungalow sits, ugly, 75m to the north and kills the site.

The structure is in excellent condition, with just the front stone removed. It consists of a 3m gallery, which is 1.5m tall and just under 1.5m wide. The large single roofslab remains in place. Apparently, although i didn't see this, there is a cross carved on its upper surface. There is a dried up holy well by its side and the cross was carved when the tomb was used as an open air altar for Christian masses during the penal times. I love this kind of site re-use.


One thing that surprised me about its location is that Croagh Patrick, to the north, is obscured by the rock outcrop. I was excpecting it to be visible from here.

The gallery is aligned east-west with the entrance at the west.

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All Sites Visited On 6th July 2003    « Previous Site    Next Site »

Sunday, 14th January 2007

This monument has been incorporated into the Clewbay Archaeological Trail and seems better off for it, as it has been tidied up. There are no longer brambles crawling all over the entrance.

I'm not surprised that it was added to the trail, because the site is so accessible - you can drive right up to it. The views to the west are open, but from northeast around to souththe skyline is formed by Croagh Patrick, the Sheeffry Mountains and the Mweel Rea Mountains. What a great location.

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All Sites Visited On 14th January 2007    « Previous Site    Next Site »

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Random Gazetteer

A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments

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3.4 Km (WSW) there is a Court Tomb at Aillemore.
3.9 Km (WNW) there is a Standing Stone at Cloonlaur known as Killeen.
5.3 Km (WNW) there is a Stone Pair at Cloonlaur.



A Selection of Other Wedge Tombs

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