What is recorded here

No visible chamber remains, only a flat field on a rise between the Goulaun River and Letterkeen Hill. In 1935 a local man opened a cist beneath a large slab and exposed cremated bones from at least two adults and a child, along with two food vessels. The dead had been set into that small stone box before the rath was built above them.

Located on a rise in the middle of a plateau bounded by the Goulaun River on one side and by the steep rise of Letterkeen Hill on the other, in an area of mountainous and boggy terrain. In 1935 a local man found two food vessels with a quantity of cremated bone in a cavity or cist (c. 0.9m x c. 0.6m x 0.6m) beneath a large slab (c. 0.9m x c. 0.6m) in the SW quadrant of a rath (MA046-004007-). The finds were sent to the National Museum. The bones were found to comprise the remains of at least two adults and a child, and the cist was dated to the Bronze Age (Ó 'Ríordáin and Mac Dermott, 1950-51, 89-90). A subsequent excavation (E000015) revealed that the cist was part of a phase of activity that pre-dated the construction of the rath (Ó 'Ríordáin and Mac Dermott, 1950-51). A possible burial cairn (MA046-004001-), two other cists (MA046-004003-; MA046-004004-) and two pit burial (MA046-004005-; MA046-004006-) were also found, also dating to the Bronze Age. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 9 April 2019

Cist in Letterkeen is a small stone burial chamber, likely dating to the Early Christian or Bronze Age period. Its location suggests it may be associated with early monastic settlements or earlier funerary practices in a remote and naturally defensible landscape.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.