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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----

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David 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).

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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

De Valera and Ó Nualláin 1961 Survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland, vol. i, County Clare. Dublin. Stationery Office.

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
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