Megalithic tomb - portal tomb

The National Monuments Service's description

On the lower SE slopes of Carricktriss Gorse hill, adjacent to a small stream which flows S and eastward into Pollanassa River, in pasture. There are good views to the S. A standing stone (KK035-116----) is located c. 100m to the SW. The tomb is indicated on the 1st ed. OS map as ‘Leac an Scáil’, and versions of the name have appeared in various publications. Tighe (1802, 624) refers to it incorrectly as ‘Lachan Scahl (the Great Altar Stone)’, Borlase (1897, 405-07) gives the meaning for ‘Scal’ as a champion while Carrigan (1905, vol. 4, 248) translates it as ‘Rock of the Hero’.
The portal tomb is orientated NE-SW. It consists of a massive high-pitched capstone (max. dims. 5m by 3.2m; T 0.54m) which rests on a lower roofstone (max. dims. 2.41m by 1.85m; T 0.28m) and two portal stones (E stone 2.21m x 0.64m; H 3.59m; W stone 1.65m x 0.55m; H 3.55m). The two portal stones, the tallest stones in the tomb, form the entrance to a stone-lined burial chamber (E stone 3m x 0.3-0.43m; H 1.12m; W stone 1.9m x 0.9m; H 1.87m; S back stone 1.22m x 0.19m; H 1.62m; N sill stone 1.87m x 0.67m; H 3.08m). There are traces of a low retaining cairn along the E side of the monument but there is no visible trace of the encircling 'embankment, or rath' which, according to Borlase, formerly surrounded it (1897, vol. 2, 407).
(National Monument no. 324)

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 20 August 2018

References

Tighe, W. 1802 Statistical observations relative to the County of Kilkenny. Dublin. The Dublin Society.

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.

Borlase, W.C. 1897 The Dolmens of Ireland, 3 vols. London. Chapman and Hall.