Due to the deteriorating weather I nearly didn't stop at this site, but I am so glad I did. At first sight from the road it looked very ruined, but when I reached it I was impressed.
The gallery is 8m long, aligned E-W and divided unevenly into two chambers by large jambs. The north wall of the rear chamber and one of the slabs from the north wall of the front chamber have been removed. The whole of the south wall is in place. Leaning against the outside of the south wall are many slabs, which are presumably the roofslabs from the gallery. This wall is built into a modern field wall. There is also some cairn spread on the southern side of the tomb.
The entrance, at the east end, is rather peculiar. A large stone blocks the south half of it with a low sillstone in the gap between it and the opposing jamb. The back stone is massive! About 1.6m square. Two low stones are set just inside the backstone, parallel to the walls - a feature I've not seen in a court tomb before.
The court, at the east end, is also a little odd. It is also quite tricky to decipher at first glance, because it is full of large irregular boulders. There are three court stones on the south side of the entrance, one of which has a layer of quartz on its inner face. There are also three stones in the northern arm of the court. Between two of these there appears to be some dry-stone walling intact. Stretching between the ends of the court arms is a row of low sill-like stones forming a low wall across the front of the court. The enclosed space is full of boulders.
About 20m SE of the entrance is an exposed area of bedrock covered in large boulders. The whole of te monument is semi-hidden by gnarly old thorn trees making it a little awkward to move around. Given the relatively excellent condition of this tomb I am amazed that it's not mentioned a lot more often.
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A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
 Ballybeg (Co. Mayo) |  Carrowkeel - Cairn E (Co. Sligo) |  Dooey's Cairn (Co. Antrim) |
 Corracloona (Co. Leitrim) |  Lagan (Co. Monaghan) |  Killucan (Co. Tyrone) |
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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. |
