Passage tomb art (present location)

The National Monuments Service's description

Embanked stone circle (LI032-004001-; National Monument No. 247) with orthostat (int. H 1.02m; ext. H 0.5.; Wth 0.63m x T 0.36m) decorated with passage tomb art recently discovered by Ken Williams. Situated in grassland on top of low rise of ground 350m W of Lough Gur and surrounded by a cluster of prehistoric monuments. Two stone circles (LI032-005-/006----) in adjoining field to N, a trackway running NW-SE known as Cladh na Leac (LI032-010001-) 210m to E, site of standing stone known as Cloch á Bhíle (LI032-007----) 60m to SSE, site of Giant's Grave (LI032-010003-) possibly a megalithic structure 245m to SSE, site of a possible megalithic tomb/portal tomb (LI032-004002-) immediately to WSW, a trapezoidal setting of stones (LI032-002----) annotated as a 'Stone Avenue' which may be remains of a court tomb (Cleary 2015, 51) standing beside an embanked stone circle (LI032-003---) 120m to WNW.
Embanked stone circle consisting of a slightly raised near perfect circular-shaped area (int. diam. 45.7m) defined by 113 contiguous orthostats (max. H 4m) serving as internal facing for a wide flat-topped earth and stone bank (Wth 9m; H 1-2m) with cobbled entrance gap (Wth 1m) at E flanked by tall orthostats ( H 2-2.2m), one of which (LI032-004003-) is decorated with passage-tomb style art recently identified by Ken Williams. The decorated stone is located on the NE side of the internal kerbing of the circle, and is the fourth stone to the W of the entrance into the circle. This orthostat was labelled Stone No. 9 by Ó Ríordáin (1951, Plate 1) on his plan of the embanked stone circle. Three of the four faces of the orthostat are decorated with concentric circles and other motifs while the plain fourth SW face looking in towards the centre of the circle appears to have been split and it surface is in stark contrast to the rounded surface of the other 3 faces. The carvings on the faces of the upright stone are truncated by the earthen bank. The motifs were described by Ken Williams as follows; 'The larger carved face [NE] is the back of the stone which features concentric circles c. 12cm and 22cm in diameter with a partial third ring. Above and below these concentric circles are smaller oval and U-shapes. On each side of the back face there are nested arcs carved where the face has angled planes leading towards the sides of the stone. Near the bottom edge of the visible surface on the right side of the back face is a deeply carved oval or U-shaped carving which is partly obscured by moss. On the south edge of the stone there are nested arcs and a possible oval shape, heavily weathered and difficult to see. On the north edge there are vertical parallel lines c. 30cm long, some of which may be joined nearer the base of the stone. There are very faint indications of horizontal lines across the top, extremely eroded and difficult to assess'. The only other stone (CO153-008---) decorated with passage-tomb art in Munster, was found c. 1880 in the townland of Croha West, Clear Island, Co. Cork, and possibly came from Killickaforavane passage tomb (CO153-010----).

See attached photographs courtesy of Ken Williams and plan of stone circle showing stone no. 9 from Ó Ríordáin 1951, Plate 1.

To see a 3D model of this carved stone visit: https://skfb.ly/oxs6R

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by Ken Williams

Date of upload: 23 August 2022

References

Ó Ríordáin, S.P. 1951 Lough Gur excavations: the
great stone circle (B) in Grange townland. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 54C, 37-74.

Cleary, R.M. 2015 Excavation at Grange Stone Circle (B), Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, and a review of the dating. The Journal of Irish Archaeology, 24, 51-77.