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Portal tomb in Menlough

Portal tomb

What is recorded here

Lough Corrib and Menlough still touch the grass where the portal tomb stands. That is the fact that must be kept clear. Under it, a chamber and chamber-like chamber may have held dead people, lived people, or the boundary between the two. The water gives the place its motion: coming in, going out, returning changed. The stones give it its memory: a room built without walls, a door left open, a name absent but shape remembered. That is why the story should not invent a missing woman or hide behind a warning. It should follow what is already there. The lake, the grass, the stones, the chamber, the absence of a roof, the possibility of entry. Those are the facts. The wonder is only to stop treating them as dead.
On grassy limestone close to the shore of Lough Corrib. The monument is fairly well preserved but lacks a roof. It consists of a chamber (L c. 4m, Wth 1.5m) aligned E-W, formed by two portal stones, at E, and two sidestones; N portal is flanked by an orthostat. The tomb is incorporated in a cairn of irregular outline. The S side of the chamber forms part of a field wall. (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1972, 13) 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 See linked document with details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume III. Counties Galway, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Laoighis, Offaly, Kildare, Cavan. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1972).
Portal tomb, dating to the Neolithic period (c. 4000–2500 BCE). Its orientation and construction reflect early megalithic traditions in Ireland, significant for understanding regional burial practices and social organisation.

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

What survives
Recorded monument

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