Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb
Caherminnaun West, County Clare, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Caherminnaun West
- County
- Clare
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Cromlech (1916)
- Coordinates
- 52.99935, -9.19911
- SMR number
- CL009-098----
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 undulating ground in pasture, within a large multiperiod field system (CL009-059001-). Labelled as ‘Cromlech’ on the 1897 OS 25-inch plan and 1920 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Described by de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 41) as a rubble-filled wedge tomb (L c. 3m; Wth at W 2-2.5m, narrowing to 1.7m at E; max. H at W 1.3m, sloping to min. 0.65m at E) embedded in a mound, of which only vestiges (c. 4m N-S; c. 1.25m E-W) survived at the E. The tomb was orientated E-W. Each of its sides consisted of a single limestone slab set on its long edge. The S sidestone (L 4.05m; H at W 1.25m, sloping to 0.85m at E; T 0.25m) leaned heavily to the S. Its top edge (L 3m) sloped evenly from W to E, with traces of dressing. The N sidestone (L 3.8m; H at W 1.3m, sloping to 0.65m at E; T 0.25-0.3m) also sloped from W to E, although the E part of its top edge was broken. The E endstone/backstone (L 1.6m; H 0.7m; T 0.15m) had a straight dressed top edge. De Valera and Ó Nualláin interpreted a flat-lying slab (L 1.4m; Wth 1.15m; T 0.2-0.25m) immediately to the W of the tomb as a fallen endstone, which would have partly closed the tomb entrance with a gap (c. 0.7m) between it and the N sidestone. An inspection of the tomb in 1997 found it unaltered in the interim. There is a cashel (CL009-059003-) c. 90m to the SSW.
The following items have been uploaded:
CL009-098----_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)
CL009-098----_01.jpg View of tomb from ENE
Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott
Date of upload: 20 June 2022
References
De Valera and Ó Nualláin 1961 Survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland, vol. i, County Clare. Dublin. Stationery Office.
Nearby in the register
- Ringfort - cashelunder 1 mi
- House - indeterminate dateunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Barrow - ring-barrowunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.