What an incredible monument. There are actually at least two monuments here the first (and probably the earliest) is a double court tomb set in a well marked trapizoidal cairn . This is aligned roughly east-west. The western tomb could actually be earlier than the western one, so there may be three monuments.
The eastern tomb has a short, narrow court with two very well matched, stocky entrance jambs leading to a 4m long gallery. The courtyard is set back into the cairn by about two metres, which could indicate again that it was added to later.
The western tomb is back-back with the eastern one. The gallery is similar, except that it has a side chamber on the south side. The courtyard is broader than that of the east tomb and opens into the facade of the cairn.
Added onto the front of the western facade, on a different alignment, is a third court tomb. This has a court facing roughly west and is built so as to still allow access to the western court of the double court tomb. The courtyard of this monument seems to have been buch larger than the others, but a field wall cuts through part of it and so it is hard to be sure. The orthostats of the courtyard are much larger than that of the earlier monument. This gives me the impresion that it was appended as a bigger and better ritual site, perhaps because the land upon which the builders farmed was starting to deteriorate and they perhaps felt that building a grander tomb would appease their gods.
Nephin Mountain dominates this site and must have been an important landmark for the builders.
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______The first time I came here you could tell that this monument wasn't going to get maintained in any way - the farm doesn't seem to be fully operational and the cattle or sheep that would have once kept the undergrowth around the tomb in check are not around.
It is extremely difficult to see many of the features of these tombs now. The eastern one is almost completely covered in brambles and saplings, while the western, double court tomb is heading that way, too. The edges of the cairn are slowly disappearing and the galleries are also becoming hidden.
Still, it is the view of Nephin Mountain that makes this place and, thankfully, no one has managed to hide that yet.
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. |