Quarry

The National Monuments Service's description

On a gentle NW-facing slope in an area of rough pasture and scrub and in a location where the grykes in the limestone pavement are not parallel and often converge and diverge. Within an extensive multiperiod field system (CL017-180----).

The quarry comprises three slabs that were in the process of being lifted. The most northerly stone (L 2.4m; Wth 3m) is raised along its W side (H 0.8m) and supported by a single boulder (L c. 0.5m; Wth 0.4m; H 0.8m). The W edge of the stone has been brought forward over the gryke which extends to the S. The second stone (L 3m; Wth 1.6m) is located 10m to the S and its W edge is lifted (H c. 0.2m) and supported on a single boulder. A nearby stone (H c. 0.4m) may have been pushed out from underneath the slab or may have been intended for use to raise the slab further. A third stone (L 2.26m E-W; Wth 2m N-S) is located 3m to the W of the second stone and its leading edge faces N, is aligned WNW-ESE and is raised (H 0.7m) to rest on a stone. The corner of this stone at the E end is cracked and this may be why it was abandoned. This stone is overgrown with scrub.

Four wedge tombs (CL016-061003-, CL016-061004-, CL016-061001- and CL016-061002-) located c. 40-100m to the NE and SE of this quarry are part of the Roughan hill group. Excavations carried out at three wedge tombs in the area, CL017-180002- (Ó Maoldúin 2015), CL016-061002- (Ó Maoldúin 2017) and CL017-009---- (Ó Maoldúin 2022) have confirmed their date of construction as Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age (Ó Maoldúin pers. comm.).

The following images have been uploaded:
CL016-061005-_01.jpg Stone 1 from S.
CL016-061005-_01.jpg Stones 2 and 3 from N.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Lynda McCormack

Date of upload: 22 July 2022

References

Ó Maoldúin, R. 2015 Preliminary report on the excavation of wedge tomb CL017-180002-, Parknabinnia, Co. Clare. Licence 15E0053. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Ó Maoldúin, R. 2017 Preliminary report on the excavation of wedge tomb CL016-061002-, Parknabinnia, Co. Clare. Licence 16E0129. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Ó Maoldúin, R. 2022 Preliminary report on the excavation of wedge tomb CL017-009----, Parknabinnia, Co. Clare. Licence 17E0216. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.