Passage tomb art

The National Monuments Service's description

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Stone bearing passage-grave art is now all that remains of a megalithic tomb (see LH006-015001-) which was destroyed by quarrying in 1826. Decorated stone described by Evans (1939, 250-4) as follows; 'When Mr. H. G. Tempest first took me to the site in 1934 he showed me a large stone lying on the lower hill-top. This, on being turned over, seemed to have traces of engravings. It was not until January, 1938, that I had an opportunity of visiting the hill again, in company with Miss M. Gaffikin, Mr. O. Davies, and Mr. T. G. F. Paterson, when we obtained the rubbing reproduced in fig. 2 and the photograph. The surface of the limestone is so weathered that the markings do not stand out clearly, but we were all satisfied of their genuineness. The minor irregularities of the surface may be due to its having been dressed to take the carvings. Part of what looks like a large spiral can be made out, and an arrangement of concentric lozenges, while there are traces of what appear to be concentric circles between them. The stone is cigar-shaped, measuring 4 ft. 10 in. [1.47m] in length and 18 in. [0.45m] in maximum breadth. One end is broken, and close by is a socket, If in. deep, which probably once held a staple. A shallow groove three inches wide runs down the middle of the engraved face and has on either side, near the middle of the stone, an iron staple. (The white cross in the rubbing is due to the interruption caused by these features.) This must be the stone referred to by Coffey in the following passage. "Mr. Bell, the proprietor . . . showed me one of the slabs in his garden; this has no markings on its exposed face. Another slab is at the forge close by. This, he remembers, was for some time used as a gatepost, and one of its faces was covered with markings. It has since been used for bending hoops, and the incised markings have been almost completely rubbed away. One of the cuttings appeared to have been spiral, and another spiral or concentric circles; some short lines of a branch like form are also visible'. (Herity 1974, 232; Shee-Twohig 1981, 224)

See attached rubbing of carved stone and photograph taken from Evans 1938, Fig. 2 and illustration of Killin Hill decorated stone (B) taken from Louthiana: Book III. Plate 6r a taken from Digitised version of the copy shelved at V.g.20., Department of Early Printed Books, Trinity College Dublin

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 26 August 2022

References

Shee Twohig, E. 1981 The Megalithic Art of Western Europe. Oxford, Clarendon Press

Wright, T. 1748 Louthiana: or an introduction to the antiquities of Ireland. London. Thomas Payne.

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

Evans, E.E. 1939 Killin Hill. Ulster Journal of Archaeology Ser. 3, 2, 250-4.