tombs ireland

Borlase graphically described this rather ungainly portal-tomb as 'a sphinx-like monster, advancing out of a rocky hill on some half-dozen short and rickety legs'. Its unusual shape immediately draws the eye, and it stands out boldly in a field which has many natural formations of large boulders. The 40-ton capstone is 22 feet long and covers an elongated chamber which yielded coarse Neolithic pottery. Immediately behind the tomb is a raised rocky ledge, and it has been suggested that the...

There may have been an early Christian monastery in the valley where, according to tradition, St. Colmcille banished demons who enveloped the valley in a fog. The most conspicuous remains are the pillars decorated with cross-motifs and geometric designs which are now the  'stations of the cross' of the pilgrimage which takes place on the Saint's feastday on June 9th. The pillars are spread over an area in the valley 3.5 miles long and the pilgrimage takes as many hours to complete.
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This court-tomb is unusual in having a forecourt forming almost three-quarters of a circle, with the largest stones near the end of the 'horns'. The court gave access to a now roofless three-chambered burial gallery, of which that next the entrance was not used for burials. Excavations in 1962 showed the end-chamber to have been undisturbed and to contain cremated bone as well as a curious dark brown layer which has been encountered in other ulster court-tomb excavations. Unexpectedly, these c...

A large tomb of the enclosed, full-court type, with parallel twin galleries placed at the western end of the court, each divided into two chambers. One of the galleries is roofed with a heavy capstone. Two small unsegmented chambers at the eastern end of the court have entrance stones decorated with curvilinear motifs recalling the megalithic art of the passage-tombs, but prolonged weathering has almost obliterated the designs. The court is oval in plan and measures about 45 feet in lengt...

One of the great wonders of the ancient world, Newgrange is older than Stonehenge, Mycenae or even the pyramids in Egypt. Brú na Bóinne Visitor Centre is the starting point for a tour of Newgrange....

This well-preserved megalithic tomb lies in the saddle of two hilltops. The long passage of the tomb extends to a chamber that expands inwards. The way that the roof stones rise to the top of this chamber like stairs is similar to those built in Brittany. It is believed that a large mound of earth originally covered these graves....

Hugh stones of a Neolithic passage tomb inscribed with fascinating designs of early art. Superb view....

One of the most aesthetically satisfying megalithic structures of the Irish countryside, a 4,000 year-old Neolithic tomb that might equally be a work of modern sculpture. If proof were needed that Stone Age man built his monuments to impress as well as to last, then here it is. Its rugged geometry has long been admired, and illustrations of it have appeared in innumerable publications as well as in television commercials promoting tourism and butter. It was Fergusson who coined the term 'tripo...

One of the most spectacular megalithic tombs of the distinctive south Leinster group, a stately Neolithic mausoleum, 'remarkable', to quote Borlase, 'for its solidity, and the perfect carrying out of a unity of design'. As a scheduled National Monument it is entitled to better care than it currently receives. 'It stands neglected in a corner of the disused burial ground of Kilburrin, 4 miles south-south-west of Waterford city, its great lichen encrusted stones emerging from a tangle of overgrow...

What may at first seem like a low dolmen on a hillock overlooking Loughin island lake at a cross-roads on the Seaforde-Crossgar road is, in fact, a large, low capstone resting on a number of smaller stones. These may once have been part of a passage-tomb, as an account of 1802 talks of it being beneath a cairn 60ft in diameter and having a lintelled passage approaching it....