Boulder-burial

The National Monuments Service's description

National Monument No. 380. This boulder-burial and standing stone are located in gently sloping pasture close to the W shores of Lough Currane. A second standing stone (KE098-034----) occurs c. 167m to SSW. The boulder-burial consists of a flat-topped slab supported on three low stones. The interior of the monument is infilled with field debris, and larger clearance stones abut it externally at E and W. The cover-stone is roughly subrectangular in plan, its longer axis lying ENE-WSW. Its maximum dimensions are 1.8m x 1.5m and it averages .3m thick. The support stones are generally flat-topped and have average dimensions of .7m x .5m and .3m high. In 1988 a single piece of burnt bone was found beneath the cover-stone (NMI 1988:190).

Located 13.4m ENE of the boulder-burial is a stout pillar (KE098-030002-) of regular elevation, marked 'Gallaun' on the OS maps. Its NE side displays a sharp inturn 1.45m up from its base, where it measures 1.05m x .8m; ENE-WSW. The stone stands 2.4m high and a number of packing stones are exposed at its base (Ó Nualláin 1978, 98).
Henry noted two small 'dolmens' to the W of the standing stone, where she also recorded the ruins of one or two huts and related field boundaries (1957, 132). No visible trace survives of this second possible boulder-burial, nor of the other features.

The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 378. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of upload: 28 July 2013

References

Henry, F. 1957 Early Monasteries, Beehive Huts, and Dry-Stone Houses in the Neighbourhood of Caherciveen and Waterville (Co. Kerry). Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 58C, 45-166.

Ó Nualláin, S. 1978 Boulder burials. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 78C, 75-114.