Barracashlaun : Court Tomb
Visit Notes
Sunday, 16th May 2004
This double court tomb is very ruined and very, very hard to find. The hill side all around it is covered in bits of limestone poking through the grass. I nearly gave up looking and moved on, but I had read a description of the site and knew it must be 'findable'.
Eventually I stumbled upon it tucked away amongst some trees. The north gallery is the most complete, but the whole of the west side is missing. The east wall slabs and a fine pair of jambs remain in place and from these you can tell that the gallery was about 6m long and split into two chambers. A large stone standing to the north of the entrance to this gallery probably means that this end had a full court.
The south gallery is extremely ruined and if it wasn't for the larger north gallery I think you'd posibly ignore it all together. A couple of small standing stones could indicate the remains of a court at this end.
To the west of the monument is a limestone outcrop and to the east is a very boggy area. Given that a substantial amount of peat has gathered here this boggy area could have been a small pond at one time.
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A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
5.9 Km (WNW) there is a Portal Tomb at Tawnamachugh.
8.5 Km (ENE) there is a Wedge Tomb at Lisdarush.
5.7 Km (WNW) there is a Hut Circle at Aghamore.
5.7 Km (SE) there is a Court Tomb at Tawnymanus.
A Selection of Other Court Tombs
 Cornaclery (Co. Derry) |  Shanballyedmond (Co. Tipperary) |  Carricknamoghil (Co. Donegal) |
 Killucan (Co. Tyrone) |  Dunteige (Co. Antrim) |  Ossian's Grave (Co. Antrim) |
About Coordinates Displayed
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This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |
