Megalithic tomb - passage tomb

The National Monuments Service's description

The monument stands within a modern conifer plantation on a terrace on the E side of Knockannavea hill. A passage tomb consisting of an incomplete circle of kerb-like boulders enclosing an area approximately 8m in diameter. At the centre is a hollow in which are exposed four stones, probably the remains of a burial chamber. These stones may probably be identified with those mentioned by McDix as forming part of a ‘smaller inner circle’ (McDix 1925, 126). Four boulders along the SE side were displaced in 1986 in the course of forestry work. This area was excavated in 1988 and the stones replaced in their original positions. No finds were recovered (Healy 1988). The monument appears to represent the denuded remains of a probable passage tomb. (Herity 1974, 123).I t was named ‘Cromlech’ on the first edition of the OS 6-inch map: this was changed to ‘Stone Circle’ on the 1937 edition.

Compiled by: Paul Walsh and Padraig Clancy
Revised upload on: 7 July 2018

References

Herity, M. 1974 Irish Passage Graves. Dublin. Irish University Press.

Healy, P. 1988 Ballinascorney Upper, burial cairn. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1988: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 14. Bray. Wordwell.

McDix, E.R. 1925 Some antiquities on Tallaght Hill. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 55, 126-9.