Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb

The National Monuments Service's description

In elevated pasture on the S-facing slope of Ballyallaban Hill with clear views from SE to SW. Within a multiperiod field system (CL005-104001-). Indicated and named ‘Cromlech’ on the 1839 and 1916 OS 6-inch maps. A well-preserved wedge tomb aligned E-W and centrally placed within a grassed-over cairn. The following details are derived from de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 7). The tomb comprises a N sidestone, the remains of a S sidestone, a W doorstone, and single large roofstone, defining a wedge-shaped chamber (L 4m; H 0.9-2m; Wth 0.9-1.3m) broadest and highest to the W, and narrowing and lowering to the E. The N sidestone (L 3.75m; H 1.95m; T 0.1-0.25m) leans slightly outwards and is vertically cracked c. 1.5m from its E end. Its upper edge is dressed and slopes sharply down to the E. Small packing stones are visible along the base of the stone. The S sidestone survives only as two ex-situ slab fragments propped along the S side of the tomb. Both fragments appear to derive from the broken sidestone, which Westropp noted had ‘collapsed since 1862’ (1899, 381). The W slab (L 1.4m; H 1.35m; T 0.25m) has a straight top edge, but its other edges appear broken. A second slab fragment to the E (L 1.65m; H 1.15m; T 0.15m) also appears to be derived from the broken sidestone. The S side of the tomb has been partially built up with drystone walling from a boundary flanking the S side of the monument. The W end of the chamber is closed by a cracked doorstone (L 2.1m; H 1.85m; T 0.1-0.2m), on which the roofstone now rests. The roofstone (L 4.25m; Wth 0.9-1.95m; T 0.2m) widens from E to W and is cracked c. 0.75m from its E end. A well-set slab (L 0.65m; H 0.6m; T 0.1-0.15m) runs partially across the E end of the chamber. 

The tomb is set within a cairn (c. 8m N-S; c. 10m E-W; H 0.7m), which has been partially quarried to the S. Four upright slabs (L 0.4-1.2m; H 0.1-0.5m) are set within the cairn W of the doorstone. They may be the remnants of a stone kerb or be related to a later field wall which abuts the cairn. 

 

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell

 

Date of upload: 21 October 2025

 

 

See linked document with details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume I. County Clare. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1961).

Date of upload: 24 December 2011

References

de Valera, R. and Ó Nualláin, S. 1961 Survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland, vol. 1: County Clare. Dublin. Stationery Office.

Westropp, T.J. 1899 Prehistoric remains in the Burren, County Clare. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 9, 367-384.