'Fairy Castle' : Passage Tomb
Marked Sites
Visit Notes
Saturday, 16th February 2002
What a wonderful 3.5km walk along the Wicklow Way from the car park at Kilmashogue! Myself and my youngest daughter, Elizabeth, had a wonderful time walking through some pleasant woodland (even if it is all new pine).
We strolled along, without a care in the world, spotting frog spawn in the little streams and pools that line the path. We even brought some home. Naturally when the tadpoles develop we will return them to the pool where we found it.
The views from the top of Two Rocks Mountain across Dublin bay and out to sea and to Howth are quite stunning.
At the site today is a small modern cairn that sits on top of a much larger ancient cairn that is around 20m in diameter. I find it hard to believe that this is a passage tomb, reports say that is the case and 'slippage' has hidden the entrance. The old cairn only rises to about 2m now but must have been around 6m high once.
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_Saturday, 8th April 2006
It was great to be back up here again. The expansive views and the mad, everchanging skies made the experience quite surreal. Trying to put waterproof trousers on while on an exposed hilltop is great fun! Glad I don't have to do that very often.
The walk here from Tibradden (County Dublin) is really not too bad. The last part up to the cairn is quite steep and rocky though. I wouldn't like to do it after several day of heavy rain as it is very wet and boggy in some places. The views are wonderful and make up for that really easily.
I noticed that one part of the cairn on the side facing the two tors that give the mountain its name. I wondered down to these to take a good look. It's surprising that there are no monuments here, because the way that the view opens up is quite mind-blowing. From here you look out to sea past The Little & Great Sugarloaf Mountains.
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_Have you visited This Monument?
If so, give it a rating for others to seeDirections
From the R113 in south Dublin follow the signs for the Wicklow Way and park in the car park at O150 245. Follow the Wicklow Way until you are nearly at the top of Two Rocks around the west side. You will see a path leading east towards the television mast on Three Rocks Mountain. Head for these and you will come to a very stoney path up to the cairn. It is another 300m trek up this path to the cairn.
Random Gazetteer
A Selection of Other Passage Tombs
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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