This portal tomb is incredible. It is in no way perfect, but it is still a great structure. The most impressive thing structurally are the beautifully paired portal stones. These, very unusually, flare outwards and look like massive court tomb entrance stones. The top edges have a wonderful convex curve. Their front edges are scooped and curve to a point before curving back in again. These two stones are 2m tall and 1.8m wide. In between these there is a modern stone wall.
When viewed from the front the capstone shoots out over the gap between the portal stones. When the tomb was in good order this thin slab would have been very imposing.
Moving around to the rear of the tomb it gets weird. Very weird. One of the chamber walls is missing and the capstone leans up against the other one, forming a large triangular space beneath. There is more modern stone walling around the remaining side stone.
Yet more modern construction blocks off part of the triangular gap formed below the capstone, leaving an entrance next to the sole side stone. I keep saying 'modern', but I obviously have no idea when this was done, but I would say it was withing the last two hundred years.
The space inside this freaky structure is very dry and feels quite cosy. Was it adpated for living in or was it just used as a pigsty? It could have been either (or both).
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_All Sites Visited On 1st June 2003 « Previous Site Next Site »
The last time I was here it was a wet, horrible day. I had hoped that today I would get some pictures without a whited-out sky, but the rain meant that it was not possible to use a graduated filter. Much sadness.
The area around the monument has been cleaned up considerably since June 2003 when I was last here. This is has been done as part of tehe program in the area to give better access to the monuments.
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_All Sites Visited On 17th March 2007 « Previous Site Next Site »
This is still a great monument to visit. Its reuse as a shed just adds to it appeal and quirkiness.
This seems to be a common thing around here as we found out when we visited the portal tomb at Moneygashel later in the day.
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_All Sites Visited On 29th June 2008 « Previous Site Next Site »
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
 Kilnameel (Co. Fermanagh) |  Ballyquin (Co. Waterford) |  Gurteen Lower (Co. Waterford) |
 Ballyknock (west) (Co. Mayo) |  Ballygraffan (Co. Down) |  Cleenrah or Cleenrath (Co. Longford) |
