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Rathlackan : Court Tomb

CountyMayo
Grid RefG 166 388
GPSG 16603 38757 (8m)
Longitude9° 16' 51.11" W
Latitude54° 17' 26.54" N
Nearest TownBallycastle (6.2 Km)
OS Sheet24
UTM zone29U
UTM x481718.00233798
UTM y6015902.8264058
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Visit Notes

Monday, 25th October 2004

This is really what this trip was about. A magnificent court tomb that is in near-perfect condition. I was surprised to see that it faced almost due east. Nephin mountain dominates the southern horizon here, so a north-south alignment would have brought that into the picture. However, looking east I was amazed to be able to see [[985]]. This is over 30 miles away across a few headlands and the sea!

The tomb doesn't actually point directly at it though, but a little to the south of it.

The site is easy to find, but for some reason the stile into its little compound has barbed wire across it. The ground within this area is very wet and stepping stones have been set out to make it a drier experience.

The court is almost complete. The arcs of orthostats form a semi-circle in front of the the massive entrance jambs. The lines of the arcs are continued by sweeps of drystone walling and flat blocks lying on their sides.

The gallery is close to 6m long and split into three chambers by two pairs of jambs. A low stone sits infront of the entrance and the original doorstone has been pushed aside and leans against one of the entrance jambs.

The cairn reaches to the top of the gallery walls and surrounds the court. Inside the gallery it is possible to make out the corbels that once held up the massive roofstones, which now lie on the cairn to one side.

Here's where the excavators missed out in my opinion: They could have replaced the roof and given us a prefect court tomb, instead of a very good one. Considering it was excavated as recently as 1990, I am amazed at the lack of forward thinking here.

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Random Gazetteer

A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments

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8 Km (W) there is a Cross Pillar at Doonfeeny.
4.4 Km (WSW) there is a Court Tomb at Gortatoor.
412.3 m (SSW) there is a Court Tomb at Castletown known as Castletown (W).
5.9 Km (SSE) there is a Stone Circle at Rathfran.
6.3 Km (SSE) there is a Court Tomb at Carbad Mor.

A Selection of Other Court Tombs

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