Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb
Commons North, County Clare, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Commons North
- County
- Clare
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 52.99871, -9.08670
- SMR number
- CL010-093----
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 the E-facing slope of a low ridge of exposed karst and rough pasture. Not recorded on OS mapping. Indicated on Robinson’s map of the Burren (1977). Described by de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 48) as a very poorly preserved wedge tomb almost entirely surrounded by an irregular mound (7.5m NE-SW; 5m NW-SE; max. H 1.25m), itself enclosed within an area (L 10m; Wth 8m) defined by the traces of a low bank – possibly the remains of a wall. The only upstanding element of the tomb chamber was its large, S sidestone (L 3m; H 1m; T 0.1m), orientated SW-NE. The SW part (L 1.75m) of the slab’s top edge was broken while the remaining E portion appeared to be dressed, and sloped from W to E. There was a natural hole in the upper centre of the sidestone (also noted by Westropp; 1905, 217). Set 0.7m to the S of this sidestone’s SW end was a smaller slab (L 0.55m; H 0.25m; T 0.1m) which may be part of the tomb’s outer-walling. A large, flat-lying slab (L 2.5m; Wth 1.7m; T 0.15-0.25m) to the N of the sidestone was thought by de Valera and Ó Nualláin (op. cit.) to be a displaced roofstone, although Westropp (op. cit.) viewed this as the tomb’s N sidestone. Under this prostrate slab was the edge of another slab (L 0.85m; T 0.1m). An inspection of the tomb in 1999 found it to be unaltered in the interim.
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: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott
Date of upload: 26 May 2023
References
Robinson, T. 1977 (revised 1999) The Burren: a two-inch map of the uplands of north-west Clare. Map scale 1:31680. Roundstone: Folding Landscapes.
Westropp, T. J. 1905 Prehistoric remains (Forts and Dolmens) along the borders of Burren, in the county of Clare. Part 1 – The Eastern Border. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 35, 205-29.
De Valera and Ó Nualláin 1961 Survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland, vol. i, County Clare. Dublin. Stationery Office.
Nearby in the register
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Souterrainunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.