Seahan I - Passage Tomb | Seahan II - Cairn |
Seahan III - Passage Tomb | Seahan IV - Passage Tomb |
What a climb! It is actually a lot easier than its sister, the nearby Seefin Hill, though. As we made it to the top of the mountain we were greeted not only with blue skies, a stunning view of the Wicklow Mountains to the south and Dublin to the north, but also by what felt like a force 10 gale !!!! Myself, my daughters and my girlfriend were scared of being blown away, it was that strong.
The first thing to meet you at site is the cairn with its trig point stuck on top. After some scouting around you come to the south near the edge of the little plateau where there is an opened and smashed wedge tomb.
To the north of the cairn is the remains of a passage tomb with its chamber exposed, but broken, visible from above. Most of the kerb stones are still present and the mound remains to a height of 2m.
Unfortunately, this site does not offer the same as Seefin Hill (in my opinion not a lot of places can), but the climb is easy and the views simply divine. To the east of Seefin Hill you can see the huge cairn on top of Seefingan Hill. I think I shall have to check that out soon.
I have decided to create a sub-site for each of the monuments on the hilltop (see left hand side of page.) This is because whilst on the hilltop I made quite a discovery ... a new passage tomb!!
The Dublin Archaeological Inventory hasn't been published yet, so I don't know if the fourth tomb has been recorded for that, but I've certainly never seen it written about anywhere else. EIther way, its appearance on megalithomania is a first.
Follow the N81 from Dublin and turn left to Kilbride on the R759 and follow the signs to Sally Gap. Turn left at the next cross roads and then take the first right and drive to the t-junction by a bridge. Turn left (if the road is open) and then park in one of the entrances to a track on the right. Like Seefin Hill keep walking up!
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. |