What is recorded here

Gallowshill in County Kilkenny holds a small mound built from scattered bones taken from nearby graves, turning forgotten death into a temporary landmark. The mound appeared modern, yet it rose above old single burials buried without markers or ceremony. Someone reshaped that loss into a visible shape, perhaps to remember, decorate, or hide what the land had already swallowed.

On the summit of Gallows Hill. Indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map as a circular enclosure (KK019-105----). This was inspected by the National Muesum of Ireland in November 1975 and described as a small barrow-like mound which proved to be a fairly modern (landscaping) feature (Ryan 1975-6). The small mound had been raised on the site of a cemetery of extended, unaccompanied single burials of unknown date (ibid.). Disarticulated bones derived from the surrounding graves were incorporated in the material of the mound (ibid.). Other burials (KK019-034----) had been found in the sand pit c. 130m to the E in 1969. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 19 October 2020

A small Neolithic or Bronze Age barrow; its location on a hill summit suggests it may have had ritual or territorial significance.

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