Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb
Ballynahown, County Clare, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Ballynahown
- County
- Clare
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.07018, -9.33168
- SMR number
- CL004-066002-
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
On flat rocky ground with higher ground to the E and commanding views of the ocean from SW to NW over the Clare Coast and Galway Bay and within a large field system (CL004-027001-). It is one of four wedge tombs (CL004-066002-, CL004-066001-, CL004-071---- and CL004-073----) known as the Ballynahown group in the Megalithic Survey (De Valera and Ó Nualláin 1961, 41).
A poorly preserved wedge tomb with a SSW-aligned chamber (est. L c. 3m) which rises toward the front and is surrounded by a low mound (est. diam. c. 9.5m; H 0.6-0.75m). It was recorded in the Megalithic Survey as CL. 45 (De Valera and Ó Nualláin 1961, 40) (although the orientations cited in the written description are incorrect). The E side stone remains in situ (L 3.5m; H 1.3m at SSW; H 1.15m at NNE; T 0.1m); it is cracked towards the centre and the top edge is broken but traces of dressing are visible. A slab (L 3m; Wth c. 1.9m; T 0.1m), most likely the roofstone, leans against its W face.
Field inspection in 1998 noted that the interior is filled with large, flat stones. Long flat slabs incorporated into the nearby field wall c. 30m to the E may originally have formed part of the tomb. Another wedge tomb (CL004-066001-) is located c. 91m to the S.
The following items have been uploaded:
CL004-066002-_01.pdf Details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume I. County Clare. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1961).
CL004-066002-_01.jpg View from N
CL004-066002-_02.jpg View from NNE
Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Lynda McCormack
Date of upload: 14 June 2022
Nearby in the register
- Megalithic tomb - wedge tombunder 1 mi
- Hut siteunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - cashelunder 1 mi
- House - indeterminate dateunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.