Sess Kilgreen : Passage Tomb

CountyTyrone
Grid RefH 604 584
GPSH 60403 58432 (8m)
Longitude7° 4' 5.65" W
Latitude54° 28' 14.47" N
ITM east480366
ITM north584435
Nearest TownAughnacloy (8.8 Km)
OS Sheet19
UTM zone29U
UTM x449041
UTM y5761192

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Sess Kilgreen - Standing Stone
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Visit Notes

Sunday, 14th November 2004

Ever since I first saw images of the carvings on the backstones of this passage tomb I have wanted to visit it. One problem with finding it is that the OS map has it marked as standing stone ! The other is that the townland name doesn't appear on the map either.

I had a good chat with the farmer before walking across to the stones - a useful excercise as they are quite difficult to find.

The short pasage and open, oval chamber are set into a considerable amount of the cairn , hich is in turn covered in gnarled and twisted trees. These have offered some protection to the carvings. Both of the backstones of the chamber are carved but the lozenge pattern on the lefthand one has nearly vanished due to erosion and lichen growth.

Thankfully the other carving, a beautiful pattern of swirls, is in better condition. This motif simulates a comb-in-clay-type effect. There is a circle of fine concentric rings in the centre from either side of which two loops of lines extend (not a very good description really). This 'image' is often protrayed as representing a face or even an owl.

It's hard to predict how long these markings will last, so I recommend going to see them as soon as possible. Who'd have thought the carvings on the nearby standing stone would have all but disappeared in just 20 years!

Passage tombs are perhaps the most celebrated style of tombs, mainly due to the fantastic examples at Newgrange (County Meath), Knowth (County Meath) and Dowth (County Meath) in the Boyne Valley as well as those at Loughcrew (County Meath), which is by far the best place to experience these wonders.

The classical form of passage tomb is the cruciform style, where a long passage leads to a main chamber with 3 small chambers off, forming a cross when viewed from above. However, there are many other styles, some don't even have a passage! These other forms are with a round chamber (see Fourknocks (County Meath)), a polygonal chamber or in the form of a cross of Lorraine, which can be found at Seefin Hill (County Wicklow).

There is one form known as an undifferentiated passage tomb wherein the chamber is simply a broadening of the passage, such as at Matthewstown (County Waterford).

The passage and chamber was, once constructed, covered in a mound of earth or a stone cairn, which was in turn held in place with a kerb around its perimeter.

Perhaps what Irish passage tombs are most known for is the form of rock art more commonly called passage grave art, which can be seen in abundance along the Boyne Valley in the many cemeteries.

Standing stones, also called menhirs or monoliths, are the most simple of megalithic monuments. They are exactly what they say, a stone that stands with one end set into the ground. Being simple in form does not make them simple to understand, for they have served several purposes over time. Some were placed to mark burials, others were probably erected to mark boundaries or travel routes, the purpose of others is uncertain, but it may well have been ritual.

Standing stones can vary enormously in size from a under 1m tall to over 4m. Some have been purposely shaped (see Stone Of Destiny (County Meath)) and some must have been chosen purely for their shape (see Ballyvatheen (County Kilkenny)). Most standing stones are dated to be from the Bronze Age, but some are clearly older, especially those associated with passage tombs such as at Knowth (County Meath) and Loughcrew - Corstown (County Meath).

Others have been re-used in later times (see Kilnasaggart (County Armagh) and Breastagh (County Mayo)), perhaps to try and capture some of the powers of the old gods or to legitamise a claim to land.

A cairn is a large pile of stones, quite often (but not always) containing a burial. Sometimes they have a kerb around the base.

Most cairns are hemi-spherical (like half a football), but the piles of stones used to cover wedge tombs, court tombs and portal tombs are also called cairns. When associated with these types of monument they are not always round, but sometimes rectangular or trapezoidal.

Like this monument

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Random Gazetteer

A Selection of Other Passage Tombs

About Coordinates Displayed

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.

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