Rock shelter

The National Monuments Service's description

In oak woodland interspersed with rhododendron, on an extremely steep S-facing slope. Named ‘Taghaillia’ (Cliff House) in Gothic script on the 1839 edition and 1898 resurvey of the OS 6-inch map. Recorded by Killanin and Duignan (1967, 345) as the ‘site of a prehistoric chamber tomb’, this consists of a massive overhanging rectangular boulder that appears to have been used as a rock shelter. A second large boulder supports the overhanging boulder on the E side. A drystone wall (L 5m; H 1.1m; Wth 1m) along the S and W forms a roughly subrectangular chamber (D 4m; Wth 2-3.5m). A series of rough steps lead through a gap (H 1.5m; Wth 0.6m) between the drystone-walling and the E supporting stone into the chamber. The central section of the chamber has been levelled and a rough flagged floor has been laid down. Another large boulder with a rock shelf on its E side is also visible in this area. A single cupmark (GA023-013001-) is visible on the rock shelf. A stone-lined fireplace was built against the W side of the chamber. This site is also known as ‘Scailp Johnny’, after Jonnie Gibbons who fled to this area after the collapse of the 1798 rebellion. The presence of the cupmark suggest that the shelter may have been used on and off since Neolithic times. The fireplace may date to works on Kylemore estate in the 1840s (pers. comm. M. Gibbons)

The uploaded image has been provided by M. Gibbons - view of access gap

Compiled by: Olive Alcock with information supplied by Michael Gibbons

Date of upload: 10 January 2022

References

Killanin, M.M. and Duignan, M.V. 1967 (2nd ed.) The Shell guide to Ireland. London. The Ebury Press.