Where do I start? A most interesting day, went up to Parknabinnia in the Burren to look for the chartered tomb, my 3rd attempt in 2 years or so, always found the other wedgetombs on the hill easy enough but this one kept escaping me, I set off, and after an half an hour or so I knew I was probably on the wrong track again, not to worry, I ended up in a stone circle with very high stones and a lot of them, at least ten, also very close to that a big cairn, this was all on flat terrain,not up the hill, I decided to go back and more west , ended up in a hazel and fern forest which was higher than myself, got totally stuck in there and needed to go back . I walked back halfway to the road wedgetomb and started again, one more shot before giving up, at this point I had already walked for 3 hours on very difficult ground, had some falls and trips, but still in one piece. Back towards the west and in a field I thought I saw the chambered tomb, but no, this turned out to be something else, not what I was looking for, a Burren Morgana again, but from that point I could see a path going towards the hazel forest, I decided to follow it and the path became clearer, after 5 minutes or so and 2 fields further I saw the Tomb, it is a sight to behold, finally after all these years , it is striking, it is very big, nicely tucked away in the corner of the field. It has 2 chambers, an entrance with standing stones and a path to go inside, there are no cap stones, the side stones are present, and the cairn around it is big and high, and when you stand on it you can look down into the chambers and make nice photographs, the sun came out, and while I was there a group of 8 walkers and a guide appeared as well, so I got a free lecture on the Tomb, which was a bonus, and an answer to my question, ‘’What happens to the remains that are being excavated’’, Are they put back into the Tomb ? The guide said that that was not the case, there is a Irish Law that says that anything that is found belongs to the state and goes to the Museum in Dublin. He also said that another reason was that if the bones or what ever else had been exposed after so many years it would deteriorate if put back so needed special treatment to keep intact. I found this upsetting news, and I hope they are not going to do more excavations, these people treated their death with so much respect, they shouldn’t be in a Museum in Dublin.
I can give some vague directions, when you are at the roadside tomb, you look straight forward and walk to a big boulder, appr. 125 yards or so, from there you see an other boulder ahead of you, which is smaller and kind of overgrown, you go into that direction, but not to it , that boulder is in the hazel, before you get there, you veer off to the left, and then you have to walk that for a bit, at some point you see the path, it will bring you over a stone wall, and all the way towards the second field where this treasure is. Good luck, it is worth a visit.This day is one of the highlights of my visits to the Burren, although, every day in the Burren is of course a highlight.

A gorgeous day , went again to Coskeam and went up further now to Dun Mor as the weather was good. There are some interesting features on the top, some of them could be cist graves , and I am quite sure that I saw the remains of a cairn, views were stunning, on your left you see Slieve Carran, then in front of you the majestic Turloughmore mountain and turn to the right and Knockanes and Mullaghmore are in view, heaven to look at, there is a castle in the valley below, half standing only, and numerous amounts of goats herds, smelly!!!!. But the sweet fragance of the blooming flowers made up for that. There is also a good view towards the Clab valley. I saw the entrance to the pothole, looks very reachable, might have a peek in the next time, the nice thing about Dun Beag and Dun Mor is that they are so easy to get up too. I saw the Coolnatullagh cairn from the top of Dun Mor, you need to know where to look , could not see the wedgetomb from the top, hiding I suppose. The best way to go up is to approach Dun Beag from the west, you see a skeleton of a shed , with a dirt track, this goes on for about 200 yards, after that you are on your own, the cattle in the field are all very friendly, you walk the limestone for appr. half a mile, you see some dense hazel growth at the foot of the mountain, that is where you should aim for, there is a handy path up.

Went to Coskeam again in the Burren, and went up Dun Beag, there was a ringfort that i wanted to find, it is a lovely little ringfort, one ring only, tucked away on the southside of the mountain, in a dip, it was blustery weather and as soon as you went into the fort it was quiet. A very clever position, Dun Beag is not very high and to reach its summit from the road is only half an hour, for once an easy climb, i couldn't carry on to its twin brother Dun Mor, as the weather turned nasty, if you walk from the fort about 5 minutes to the summit, it is worth it, the view toward Turloughmore Mountain is stunning, it took my breath away, . Turloughmore Mountain is another one i need to go to, but it looks like an overnighter,as it is high and broad, i don't think i do it justice to go up and down in one day, lets hope for dry warm nights,

Went to Coolnatullagh in th Burren today to look for the wedgetomb. Very quiet there and I found the wedgetomb after wondering around for an hour or so, it is very small, cute, the back slab is collapsed into the tomb, but it is still very recognisable as a tomb, better then some others i have seen, I hope this is the one that Cunningham descripes, it looks different, but hard to tell, it is the only one I could find, and it is in the right place as he descripes it at some from the road you can see the top slab, on my walk back to the car I saw the cairn that is photographed in Carletons Jones book , that was a bonus as I wasn’t really looking for it, it is close to the road, it looked sweet, stones nicely draped around at the feet of the cairn and small colourful little flowers blooming in top of it, the cairn is about 1 .25 meter high i’d say. In the field where the tomb is, ( the cairn and the tomb are not that close together) there are some more interesting structures, hard to say what they are, I wished I had X-ray eyes!
John B. , the following websites give some more info on Dysert,dysertcastle.ie and Clarelibrary.ie
I went to the ringforts in Dysert last week sometime, and took the medieval road, you are transported back in time.

I love the new addition of allowing guests to rank various sites (it'd be wonderful if we could add a brief comment as well). I never realized how many sites I've been to, how many sites in exist throughout Ireland, and even some sites that I've been to that haven't shown up here, as of yet. I agree with Marriane from Clare, Dysert O'Dea is really a very fascinating place. I've been there twice and was captivated both times. It really is unfortunate that the round tower is in such ruin and there is so little information about this site. I'd love to learn more.

Went to Blackhead in the Burren , walked all around the ringfort there and up to the cairn, a very perculiar cairn, very good views, tried to find the other one, which apparently is there, i have read about it, but could not find that one, a good excuse to go again, the ringfort has one corner that is square, the plateaus are very big and long, there was one piece of limestone up towards the cairn, that was at least 10 by 10 yards appr. without being broken. I like to say thanks to the people on the green road leading up to Blackhead, they find my dog who went missing for 2 nights, she was chasing a fox, and dissappeared. But she is back and rearing to go again

Thank you for creating this fantastic web site. My family and I visited Ireland for the first time during May 2008. One of our main goals was to visit some of the prehistoric sites. Before going I printed out a number of pages from Megalithomania.com, which we used with the OS map. Your descriptions were a big help!! We tried to be respectful visitors, leaving everything intact, etc. It is a shame that every such site cannot be perfectly preserved and protected for all uses, but still wonderful that so many are accessible but still intact.

Went today to Dysert in Clare, great spot with various monuments, was delighted when i spotted some rock art in the church next to the round tower, when you go in the door, beautifully decorated with stone heads, you see the window at your left side, the 2 lowest stones from the window have each rock art, the left one is some sort of knot and the right one is something circular.

Went yesterday to Durranavahagh in the Burren, my second time and long overdue, saw all the widelife, the cuckoo was in great form and answered my attempt to 'cuckoo', i saw him flying over the valley, the wedgetomb is in good shape, i thought i saw a cairn nearby, will go up there next time, also found a nest in the ground with 4 small brown eggs, will look up where they are from, and my dog wears a small backpack, she lost the toppart , so if anybody is walking around there, and you spot it, well, enjoy the coffee and the book that is in it, i walked back on top of the mountain range going north, to the ringfort, Aird Rois, and sat there for a while looking at the green road unfolding up the mountain in front of me, a beautiful day in a magnificant landscape

Hi there,

fantasic website !!! well done! passed cloghanmore today, was looking for waves
...(surfing) and was walking in and around the tomb. was an amazing experience.

all the best

and good luck

Matteo

p.s. just worked on a documentary about Hill of Tara. was very interesting, too.