Annaghmore : Portal Tomb
Visit Notes
Sunday, 13th October 2002
It's always good practice to go to a roadside site expecting very little. If you do that with this little portal tomb you'll be in for a big surpise, because it's lovely!!! I was amazed - I had seen some poor photos of it on the internet but they had not quite prepared me for the utter cuteness of this nobbly beast.
The drive to here was an interesting one. I spent most of the journey leaning forward with my nose pressed up againt the windscreen peering into the fog, but as I approach Leitrim it started to break up and I was to be treated to sun for the rest of the day.
Anyway, back to this little unsung gem. It is situated in a little roadside niche under a nice big tree. The 2m x 1.6m capstone is wonderfully bummpy and featuresome (now there's a new word!) and oh so very, very tactile.
The whole thing is wonderfully intact, with some minor collapsing of one of the chamber walls. The two portal stones highlight a great archetectural feature of the tomb. The capstone is stepped along the front edge and to compensate for this the portal stones are of unequal height (1.6m and 1.3m), thus making the capstone level. Brilliant!
Why this one hasn't been more highly praised is beyond me. A lovely, lovely little tomb, only let down slightly by its immediate roadside position.
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_Sunday, 18th September 2005
On the way to revisiting this monument I had tried to locate the very ruined portal tomb in the townland of Melkagh, but failed. I wanted to see how they both related to Corn Hill (County Longford). This one is located such that the hill seems to occupy a position on the top of a nearby low ridge. It's as if the hill has been kidnapped and moved in the landscape to be closer. If this was an intention of the builders (and I think it probably was) then the spot has been chosen very carefully. If it wasn't intentional then it's a lovely conincidental effect!
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_Sunday, 15th April 2007
I really should put a big marks next to this site on the OS map. I keep coming back here not remembering which on it is. The problem is that the site is right next to a fold in the map and the townland name is over the fold.
The light was very different to any other time I've been here so I was able to take some more photos of it looking slightly different.
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_How Other People Have Rated This Monument
| Paul G from Glengormley |   |
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A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
3.6 Km (W) there is a Kist at Clooncoe.
5.1 Km (SSE) there is a Portal Tomb at Birrinagh (Co. Longford).
7.3 Km (N) there is a Monastic Settlement at Cloone.
9.3 Km (SW) there is a Bullaun Stone at Cloonmorris.
A Selection of Other Portal Tombs
 Binn (Co. Donegal) |  Kilfeaghan (Co. Down) |  Gurteen Lower (Co. Waterford) |
 Burren SW (Co. Cavan) |  Mayo (Co. Cavan) |  Errarooey Beg (Co. Donegal) |
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. |
