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Megalithic structure in Noughaval (burren By.)

Megalithic structure

What is recorded here

Mossy slabs lie prone or jut upright within grykes on a Clare plateau, marked as a cromlech on old maps but never proven as a tomb. Westropp watched the structure collapse between visits, suggesting human hands or brutal weather erased its shape before scholars could accept it. The stones may have marked a boundary, a burial or a forgotten ritual, yet they still hold the shelf against forgetting.
On a shelf on a plateau, in pasture within a large multiperiod field system (CL009-059001-). Indicated and named ‘Cromlech’ on the 1897 OS 25-inch plan and the 1920 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Westropp (1897, 118) mentioned ‘an overthrown cromlech 7 feet by 12 feet’, but on a later visit he found ‘the blocks of the dolmen uprooted and overthrown since 1897’ (Westropp 1915, 255). During the Megalithic Survey of Ireland, de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 93) concluded that there was ‘insufficient evidence for acceptance as a megalithic tomb.’ There are several moss-covered stones and slabs (L 1.4-1.6m; Wth c. 1m; T 0.25m) here, generally lying prone and oriented N-S or E-W, with some stones set upright in grykes. The site of an unclassified cairn (CL009-059040-) lies c. 46m to the WNW and Cahercutteen cashel (CL009-059039-) lies c. 60m to the NNW. Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 9 February 2022

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What survives
Recorded monument

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