What is recorded here

Labbaowen is a wedge tomb on the north side of Slieveowen Hill, where four sidestones and three outer-wall stones still mark a chamber three point seven metres long. The narrow eastern end drops to thirty centimetres, forcing anyone who enters to bend until the stone roof presses close. That shape may have turned a simple burial into a deliberate descent, where the dead entered a small dark place while the living watched from the wider western mouth.

On level bog-covered platform, on N side Slieveowen Hill. Comprises wedge-shaped gallery (L 3.7m; Wth 1.35m at W, 0.3m at E end) aligned ESE-WNW, represented by four sidestones to N and S. Two buttress-stones stand to S and one to N of gallery sides; three outer-wall stones are exposed beyond E end. Hole at gallery entrance; spoil from this forms low mound to W. (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1982, 32-3, Co. 45) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009 See linked document with details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume IV. Counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1982)

Wedge tomb; dates to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Its alignment and construction reflect typical features of Irish wedge tombs, significant as funerary and ceremonial monuments of the period.

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