What is recorded here

Belleek Woods in County Mayo swallowed the cromlech after men quarried its stones and planted trees above the scar. Three uprights once stood on the hill, perhaps holding a chamber for the dead, but Col. Gore buried an ice house in the same earth and fooled later believers into seeing a Druid temple. Doubt remains because the ground itself changed shape, yet displaced stones at the quarry edge still hint that the river hill held a chamber before forgetting it.

In Belleek Woods on the W bank of the River Moy, on the former estate of Belleek Manor. This is recorded as follows by de Valéra and Ó Nualláin (1964, appendix no. 11, 95-6): ‘This site is marked ‘Cromlech’ on the O.S. 6” 1837. The O.S. Letters state: “In Col. Gore’s demesne on a hill rising over the River Moy, there is a Druidical (or sepulchral ?) circle of stones. There are three upright stones on the summit of the hill, which evidently supported a cromlech, which was long since removed. The circle is, as usual, at the base of the hill. Col. Gore has erected (sunk) an ice house in the same hill, which future antiquarians will be apt to make part of a Druidical temple.” The hill has been used as a quarry and the whole is now planted with trees. At the edge of the quarry some large displaced stones may mark the site. The whole is extremely doubtful and cannot be accepted as the site of a megalithic tomb. Immediately to the south of the hill is a round mound which seems to be cairn of large stones.’ Date of upload: 17 April 2018

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