Megalithic Structure

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007 This court-tomb comprises the remains of a cairn, 26m long, orientated NE-SW, incorporating at its NE end the scant remains of a court leading to a gallery. Most of the SE half of the cairn is missing and there is little trace of this beyond the fence which runs the length of the cairn and incorporates the SE side of the gallery. The surviving cairn is about 12m wide at the NE and 6m at the SW. The court, at present 3.5m deep, is represented by two court stones on the N and the entrance jambs of the gallery. These well-matched jambs give access to the gallery, 8m long, which narrows from about 1.5m wide at the NE to 1m wide at the low back stone. Only five side stones are visible, three at the SE and two at the NW. The gallery is filled with stones and, as no segmenting jambs are evident, the number of chambers is uncertain. Some 20m NNE of the court is a standing stone (LH004-121----). (PRIA (C) 1960, 127).

Megalithic Structure, Ballymakellett is a portal dolmen dating to the Neolithic period, approximately 3500–2500 BCE. It represents an early form of megalithic burial monument and is significant as part of Ireland's broader Neolithic funerary landscape.