Ballynahown : Wedge Tomb
Visit Notes
Monday, 7th June 2004
After 5 hours walking around the other Ballynahown sites we reached the main target for the day. This tomb is in very good condition, but has been slightly modified.
The wall, roof and bask-stone of the gallery are all in place, forming a chamber 3m long and 1.5m tall and wide. The 'open' end has been three-quarter blocked with substantial drystone walling and a curved wall arcs out in front of this. It is rather odd looking. The photo of this site in the Archaeological Inventory shows it to have small slabs set at right-angles along the outside of the walls - buttresses - but these are now lying in a pile to one side. It was very tempting to replace these!, but I resisted.
The tomb is situated at the base of a 3m high cliff(ette) on the edge of a large area of good looking limestone pavment. There are many large, jagged slabs standing up in the grooves of the pavement.
30m to the south, on the opposite side of the exposed limestone is a massive swallow hole and another is situated 75m east.
While we where approaching this I saw a stoat, who sat and watched me as I stumbled across the bumps. Just as we arrived a bird of prey took to the air, screeching constantly. I think this was a periguine falcon. As we were leaving we saw a fox running through some old enclosures nearby. What a treat!
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A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
728 m (NNW) there is a Stone Fort at Caherdoon.
360.6 m (NNW) there is a Wedge Tomb at Ballynahown.
583.1 m (NNE) there is a Wedge Tomb at Ballynahown.
447.2 m (NNE) there is a Hut Circle at Ballynahown.
A Selection of Other Wedge Tombs
 Cappaghbeha Mountain (Co. Clare) |  Tober Grania (Co. Clare) |  Mountdrum (Co. Fermanagh) |
 Cappaghkennedy (Co. Clare) |  Island (Co. Cork) |  Lissacarrow (Co. Roscommon) |
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. |
