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Mound in Ceathrú An Teampaill

Mound

What is recorded here

Nine metres across and half a metre high, the mound in Ceathrú An Teampaill holds four upright stones on its summit. Locals call it Buaile na Naomh, a name that suggests holiness rather than ordinary burial. Mac Domhnaill wrote in 1933 that it was a grave, but the wider circle and standing stones resist that simple reading. Grass softens the edge, yet the stones still point upward, marking a place where people set aside ordinary life and remembered something they believed worthy of honour.
In a small field towards S end of Inis Meáin. Known locally as 'Buaile na Naomh' (Robinson 1980). What survives today is a circular, grassed-over mound of earth and stone (D 9m, H 0.5m) with four upright stones on its summit. This may be the monument referred to by Mac Domhnaill in 1933 (Topgr. Files, NMI) as a 'grave'. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). Date of upload: 05 August 2010
Neolithic passage tomb; dates to the 4th–3rd millennium BCE. Its surviving upright stones and circular mound suggest ritual or burial significance, typical of early Irish megalithic traditions.

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What survives
Recorded monument

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