Mass-rock in Ballymacool, County Donegal

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What is recorded here

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Situated in a rough, wet, scrub-covered, secluded, steep N-facing mountain side. The monument comprises a roughly-built altar dating to the period when the Penal Laws were in force. The altar is an irregularly-shaped slab (L 0.7m; Wth. 0.42m; H 0.3m) aligned NW-SE. This is supported on its NE side by a single boulder and on both its NW and SE sides by a relatively large uprights topped by narrow, horizontally placed, packing slabs to achieve a relatively level surface . The SW side, presumably where the sacred vessels etc. were temporarily held, is left open. NW side: Upright stone - H 0.3m; L 0.25m; Wth. 0.25m Slab 1 - H 0.1m; L & Wth. as above Slab 2 - H 0.04m; L & Wth. as above SE side: Basal stone - H 0.25m; L 0.05m; Wth. 0.4m Slab 1 - H 0.07m A short distance NW is a recently-erected cairn bearing the date 1980.

From the National Monuments Service (Archaeological Survey of Ireland) record DG053-046

Places near here

Photo credits

National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Maker not stated on source page, ca.pinterest.com
Kenneth Allen, Wikimedia Commons
DevelopedMadness at English Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
Balloholic (talk), Wikimedia Commons
Kenneth Allen, Geograph · CC BY-SA 2.0
Maker not stated on source page, uk.pinterest.com
Maker not stated on source page, za.pinterest.com

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