Poulnabrone : Portal Tomb
Visit Notes
Saturday, 26th October 2002
This is where I had intended to start my day and I suppose it did really start here, with the two previous impromptu stops being at fairly poor sites. I was amazed to find that there was no one else here, but extremely happy to get the place to myself. Perhaps that is the secret - arrive at 9am on a Saturday morning! I drove past on Sunday and there were 7 cars parked stupidly in the road and a whole hoard of people tottering about the limestone, like a wobbling and lurching bunch of penguins, trying not to break their ankles. Looking at most of them, if somebody had told them it was such hard work walking the 100m from the road they would never have come.
This portal tomb is spectacular though and it is easy to see why it is one of the most photographed things in Ireland. It is partly collapsed, but this is to its photogenic advantage. It is also a lot smaller than you imagine from any photograph, just under 2m tall.
The capstone slopes beautifully, the two stones that form either wall are perfectly matched, the exposed low rear chamber is nicely proportioned, the limestone pavement is beautifully fissured, the huge metal barn 100m away is really ugly!!! Why does no one mention this?
Despite the metal fencing that has been thrown up haphazzardly to protect the visitor from the rougher bits of ground (now the state owns it they are being extra cautious about litigation) and the disgusting barn it is a truly beautiful structure and, I suppose, deserves to be so hugely photographed. As much as I hate seeing its picture on the front of every book, I have to say that, I do really love the monument itself. Get ther early and be alone here - it is worth the effort.
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Like this monument
Marked Sites
Random Gazetteer
A Selection of Other Portal Tombs
External Links
Photos of Excavation Discoveries
At Clare Museum we have on display the excavated material from Poulnabrone portal tomb on long-term loan from the National Museum. Photographs of and information about these can be seen on the museum's website.Click here to visit this site
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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