As you drivethrough this part of Galway Cashel Hill dominates the scenery and it's not surprising to find a tomb built upon it. It is surprising not to find a lot more around it though.
Reaching this tomb is quite a climb, but if anywhere is worth the effort then this is! I parked to the west, near to a little quay and walked up the hill from there. This route takes you over a little spur that obscurs the tomb from you until you are 150m from it. This revealling moment is quite fantastic, because this tomb is a beauty! When you first see it from this direction you are looking straight at its front and you can see how good it is.
A quick jog across a bit of soggy ground takes you to the front of the raised platform on which it stands. This platform appears to be manmade and could be the base of a cairn or simply an area to lift the tomb from the watery ground around it.
The whole monument is very complex and it is worth climbing above it to look down upon it. The gallery is covered by a single capstone, which is in position. In front of this on the south side is a tall flanking stone similar to those found at Island (County Cork). The walls of the gallery are made of small orthostats and both sides utilise chocking stones to level the roof out. The double walling extends backwards to a sharp point 2m behind the backstone of the gallery.
The boggy area in front of the tomb could well have been wet when the tomb was built. I say this because a line of six evenly spaced stones lead across it to the front of the tomb. These are placed a perfect pace apart and I think they might be pre-historic stepping stones. They seem too well placed to be coincidental.
Click Thumbnail to View Full Size Image
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_
_All Sites Visited On 18th July 2004 « Previous Site Next Site »
 Laughanstown (Co. Dublin) |  Breastagh (Co. Mayo) |  Clontygora (Co. Armagh) |
 Craughaun Cemetery (Co. Clare) |  Ballynahown (Co. Clare) |  Marblehill North (Co. Galway) |
