Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb

The National Monuments Service's description

Near the top of a gentle SE-facing slope in pasture and within a large multiperiod field system (CL008-109001-). Indicated and labelled 'Dermot & Grania's Bed' on the 1842 and 1920 eds. of the OS 6-inch map. Listed as 'Megalithic structure site' in the RMP (1996). The OS Name Book (1840) referred to the monument as a 'stone altar' (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1961, 91). According to Borlase (1897, vol. 1, 80) and Westropp (1905, 355), this wedge tomb collapsed in the late 19th century. Both antiquarians described the remains as oriented E-W and embedded or partly embedded in a cairn (already removed). The N and S sidestones (L 3.05m) lay flat, side by side, and each was broken in the centre (Borlase 1897, vol. 1, 80). The original standing height of the tomb chamber was estimated as 1.22m (ibid.). The roof-slab (L 3.05m; Wth 2.49m at W, narrowing to 1.83m at E; T 0.18-0.23m) overlay the N sidestone (Westropp 1905, 355). Under these large prone slabs were found two smaller slabs which were thought to be endstones; because the W endstone (L 1.52m) was longer than that at the E (L 1.22m), Westropp (ibid.) concluded that 'there was the usual eastward taper' (in height and/or width). De Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 91) found no trace of this monument in 1952. During a field inspection in 1998, a trapezoidal area (9m NW-SE; 7m NE-SW at NW side; 5m NE-SW at SE side) that may mark its site was identified; its SW side was defined by a field wall and its other sides consisted of collapsed and grass-covered banks (Wth 1.25m; H 0.2m). The interior was piled with heavily overgrown field-clearance rubble.

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)

The following image has been uploaded: CL008-022----_01.jpg View from ESE

Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 5 September 2022

References

Record of Monuments and Places as established under Section 12 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, County Clare. Issued by National Monuments and Historic Properties Service 1996. Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands.

Westropp, T. J. 1905 Prehistoric remains (Forts and Dolmens) along the borders of Burren, in the county of Clare. Part 2 - west Corcomroe. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 35, 342-61.

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

Borlase, W.C. 1897 The Dolmens of Ireland, 3 vols. London. Chapman and Hall.