Sunnagh More : Portal Tomb
Visit Notes
Sunday, 13th October 2002
This was one of those 'took five minutes to find someone to ask for directions but half an hour to get those directions' sites. A lovely local farmer had me talking about things I can not remember, but a chat in the sun is always welcome.
When I got to the tomb it was very badly overgrown, but the stones looked so impressive I just had to do something I rarely do - I cleared the site of gorse bushes and brambles. WOW! What incredible stones make up this tomb. There is a sill stone in situ and only the enormous sides of the gallery remain.
The sill may mark a portico, leading into a 1.4m wide gallery that is 1.4m tall and 4m long. Each wall is represented by two huge slabs equally sized slabs. The construction of this tomb seems to have been very careful.
On each side there are traces of the double walling in the form of very thin slabs that are only half the height of the gallery walls. Quite a lot of the cairn is still there underneath the gorse bushes that I didn't clear.
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A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
4.8 Km (WSW) there is a Court Tomb at Creenagh known as Creenagh (North).
5 Km (NE) there is a Portal Tomb at Aghavas.
500 m (N) there is a Court Tomb at Drumloughan.
5.4 Km (SSW) there is a Portal Tomb at Annaghmore.
A Selection of Other Portal Tombs
 Kiltiernan Domain (Co. Dublin) |  Leitrim (Co. Tyrone) |  Ballybrack (Co. Dublin) |
 Ballykeel (Co. Armagh) |  Aughadanove (Co. Armagh) |  Aughnagurgan (Co. Monaghan) |
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. |
