Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb

The National Monuments Service's description

On a N-facing slope near the top of a knoll within a large multiperiod field system (CL009-001001-), in an area of rock outcrop and thin grass cover. There is an E–W ravine c. 65m to the S. Described by de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 22-3) as a disturbed and partly grass-covered wedge tomb (L c. 2.5m; Wth at rear 1.6m; Wth at front 1.9m) that was embedded in the centre of a mound (12m E–W; 10m N–S; H 1.25m). The tomb appeared to have originally been orientated E–W. A modern N–S drystone field wall crossed the mound and obscured the E end of the chamber. The N and S sides of the tomb seemed to have been made of a single limestone slab set on their long edges; both were broken in two pieces. The E piece of the N sidestone (L 1.4m; min. H 0.75m; T 0.2m) leaned to the N but was probably in situ, the W piece (L 0.8m; H 0.75m; T 0.1m) had been displaced and pointed to the NW. The W fragment (L 1.2m; H 1m; T 0.1m) of the S sidestone pointed to the SW, while the E slab (L 1.6m; min. Wth 0.65m; T 0.1m) had fallen into the chamber. The upper edges of the sidestones sloped down slightly towards the E and were flattened to support the capstone (L 2.5m; Wth 1.9m at W, 1.6m at E; T 0.15m), which rested on the N sidestone slabs and the mound to the S of the chamber. Abutting the W fragment of the N sidestone was an upright slab (L 1.2m; H 0.7m; T 0.1m), orientated SW–NE, which may have closed the W end of the chamber. A slab (L 1.2m; H 0.65m) set in the field wall to the SE of the chamber possibly indicated the remains of an outer wall. An inspection of the tomb in 1998 found it unaltered in the interim (SMR file).
There is a cashel (CL009-001025-) c. 15m to the S. This is one of multiple cases in the Burren of cashels being built adjacent to or over Early Bronze Age ritual structures, as at Creevagh (CL010-095002-) (Comber 2008, 106-8) and Caherconnell (CL009-030011-) (Hull and Comber 2008, 123-30), and perhaps also in the case of another wedge tomb (CL009-001013-) in Lissylisheen, c. 1.37km to the NW. This fits into a widespread medieval phenomenon of utilising prehistoric landmarks in order to emphasise important land divisions and nodes (FitzPatrick 2008, 137; Jones and Comber 2008, 162).

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)

Compiled by: Olive Alcock and Conn Herriott

Date of upload: 29 October 2021

References

FitzPatrick, E. 2008 Cahermacnaghten: investigating Gaelic estates. In M. Comber and C. Jones (compilers), Burren landscape and settlement. An Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Programme, 132-157. The Heritage Council.

Comber, M. 2008 Ringforts and the settlement landscape of the Burren in the first millennium AD. In M. Comber and C. Jones (compilers), Burren landscape and settlement. An Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Programme, 89-109. The Heritage Council.

Hull, G. and Comber, M. 2008 Excavations in Caherconnell townland. In M. Comber and C. Jones (compilers), Burren landscape and settlement. An Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Programme, 132-157. The Heritage Council.

Jones, C. and Comber, M. 2008 Conclusion. In M. Comber and C. Jones (compilers), Burren landscape and settlement. An Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Programme, 158-164. The Heritage Council.

SMR file - Sites and monuments record files in the National Monuments Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

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