Dolmen

The portal tomb is situated in a low-lying green area on a housing estate at Ballybrack off the Shanganagh-Bray road. This simple portal tomb comprises a large sloping granite roofstone (L 2.2m; Wth 2.05m; T 1.2m) resting on two portal stones and two sidestones (portals H 1.55m and 1.4m respectively). The chamber faces E (L 1.89m; Wth 0.76m). There are no traces of a covering cairn. It is known as the 'Shanganagh Dolmen' (Borlase 1897, 2, 392-3; Ó Nualláin 1983, 82, 96; Turner 1983, 5). Tomb described in 1852 by Henry O'Neill as follows; 'This is usually called the Shanganagh dolmen. The supporting-stones are four in number, two One of them is broken off in the middle, and the one opposite to it has fallen in. On these the covering-stone rests. It is nearly 7 feet 6 ins. [2.3m] square, by about 3 feet [0.9m] thick. The under side is, as usual, nearly flat. The weight of the stone is probably about 12 tons. The chamber lies E. and W., and measures 6 feet 7 ins. [2m] long by 2 feet 6 ins. [0.76m] wide. It was probably 5 feet [1.5m] high. The floor is of clay, and the material of the dolmen granite' (Borlase 1897, 392-3). To see a 3D model of this monument visit https://skfb.ly/oJtSp Compiled by: Geraldine Stout and Padraig Clancy Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 14 July 2023

Portal tomb; Late Neolithic period. It represents an early megalithic tradition in the area, reflecting prehistoric funerary practices and stone construction techniques.