This wedge is quite special. It is the first one that I have been to that has a clearly split entrance. One roofstone still lies over the three stones that form the entrance, as does one that covers the rear of the chamber 3m away.
The cairn is pretty robbed out, but many of the stones remain that formed the gallery. To one side there is an odd protruding alignment going off at right angles to the main structure. This seems to point to a huge erratic boulder that lies just 15m from the sepulcre.
The gallery is 6m in length and about 1.6m wide. the rear 2m remain covered by a single roofslab.
As we were passing this interesting wedge tomb I thought it worth stopping by again. I am still fascinated by the relationship between the tomb and the nearby large ball of rock. Last time I was here it was almost dark, so today's visit gave me the opportunity to look around the landscape a little. To the rear of the monument trees and buildings block the views, but it is still possible to see the section of horizon that the tomb faces. It seems that the gallery is aligned on a long, shallow depression in the middle distance hills.
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. |