What is recorded here

Court tomb in Tobar Bioróige, County Galway, Ireland: a chambered burial place from the Neolithic period, when people first built large stone tombs in western Europe. The conifers have grown around it, but the stones still stand inside the cairn. The dead were placed in the narrow gallery, and the living walked past the court at the east end. The tomb is not a ruin to pity; it is a room made visible again.

In limestone cragland just beyond S rim of a little valley, in an area now covered by a large plantation of conifers. The monument, fairly well preserved but concealed by cairn material, is aligned E-W. At E is part of N side of a court and a single stone of S side. Behind these is a gallery (L 4.2m), divided into two chambers. Corbelling is well preserved along both sides of the rear chamber and extends E into front chamber where it is obscured by debris. Two large broken roofstones rest above the corbelling and a massive lintel lies across the gallery entrance. The cairn is roughly oval in plan (L 15m, Wth 12m, H c. 2m) and envelops the gallery to level of roofstones, as well as apparently concealing the greater part of the court, (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1972, 10-11) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). Date of upload: 05 August 2010 See linked document with details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume III. Counties Galway, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Laoighis, Offaly, Kildare, Cavan. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1972).

Court tomb, dating to the Neolithic period (c. 3500–2500 BCE). Its alignment and location reflect early ritual landscape practices, typical of western Irish megalithic traditions.

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