What is recorded here

Knockanenaolora is a wedge tomb on a low rise beside the Mealagh river in County Cork. Its narrow gallery stretches 2.8m between standing stones, capped by one roofstone, with a buried mound still hiding at its northern edge. Trees and drains now crowd the valley, yet the chamber remains intact, waiting for someone to crawl inside and measure how much darker human life becomes when stone closes overhead.

On low rise in valley bottom about 100m S of Mealagh river. Wedge-shaped gallery (L 2.8m; Wth 1.2m at W end, 0.8m at E) open to SW, represented by two orthostats and fallen sidestone to N, backstone to E; covered by a single roofstone. Three outer-wall stones visible at E end gallery. Remains of mound survive to N and W of monument. (Ó Nualláin 1989, 135). Myler (1998, 83) records that 'this area has recently been planted with trees and new forestry drains run to within a couple of yards of the tomb. The stones appear to be undamaged but it is in a heavily overgrown state'. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 29 January 2013

Wedge tomb; dates to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Its wedge-shaped gallery and orientation are characteristic of funerary monuments in the Irish tradition, reflecting early ritual practices and burial customs.

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