Tawnatruffaun : Portal Tomb
Marked Sites
Visit Notes
Sunday, 17th August 2003
I really thought it was going to be a disappointment though when I first approached. A plantation has sprung up all alongside the road where I had expected access. A word with the farmer made it sound worse still!
"It's all overgrown. There was a path left through the trees, but it hasn't been looked after."
Oh dear! Well, me being me, off I set anyway with GPS in hand to guide me through the trees. However, a GPS is a waste of time if the official co-ords are wrong by 150m though.
Eventually I saw it and was very, very relieved to see that a very large space has been left around it - about 200m by 500m. I was immediately whisked back to some of the great sites I visited in Wales last month when I saw the wall-embedded monument. What a cracker it is. With the large space left around it and the screen created by the plantation this becomes a very private place, but still has good views, because it occupies quite a high location.
Both portal stones and the back stone hold up the capstone at a lovely angle. One side stone has been removed and a low doorstone, with a stepped top edge, is in situ.
I think this is one of the lovliest portal tombs I have been to yet. Of course the experience may have been added to by the relief of finding it to be better than I'd anticipated and by the fact that the sun finally came out and warmed me up a little.
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_Sunday, 31st August 2003
I had to be in Sligo on some personal business, so what better place (on a sunny day) to go to for a picnic with my wife!?
All my original impressions of the wonderfulness of this place were confirmed. I also took the time to wander around a little and found the stream nearby. The location of this portal tomb had been bothering me somewhat, because it's on a high point. However, the proximity of the stream just 50m away puts everything into place.
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_Saturday, 7th June 2008
Myself and Ken Williams came here to hunt for a piece of rock art that is supposed to be built into the wall right next to the tomb. After much searching up and down the wall I saw the edge of a large flat stone with a faint half-ring exposed. We cleared some stones off the top of it only to reveal that it is simply half a mill stone. The circular mark is where someone had marked out the place where they wanted to cut the centre hole.
I'm sure that this is the stone that was recorded as rock art, so here's one that we can remove from the list. A very sad thing to have to do.
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About Coordinates Displayed
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This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |
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