Megalithic tomb - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

On a gentle slope on the E side of the Black Water river valley. Named 'Large Grave' on the OS manuscript fair plan and described in the OS Letters (1839) as being 'twelve feet [3.65m] long and four [1.2m] wide. It was originally enclosed by a fence (lines) of large standing stones, three of which remain on the north side about the middle, one on the south side and one at the east end. They vary from three [0.9m] to four [1.2m] feet in height, inclining very much inwards.' (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 145). The account would appear to describe the remains of a ruined megalithic gallery. The monument appears to have been destroyed shortly after this description was written as it is not referred to in the mid-19th-century accounts of the monuments of this area (Anon. 1849, 27-8; Cody 1851, 385). (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 2, 145; Borlase 1897, vol. 2, 405, Knocktopher no. 5; Powell 1941, 22, no. 31).

Compiled by: Paul Walsh

Date of upload: 10 May 2021

References

CODY, P. 1849-51 Primaeval remains in the Mullinavat district. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquities of Ireland 1, 385-8.

Anon. 1849-51 Sepulchral remains. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 1, 26-9.

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

Powell, T.G.E. 1941a Megalithic tombs in South-East Ireland. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 71, 9-23.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Kilkenny collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Bray.