What is recorded here

A pig once slept inside the tomb, its breath fogging the dressed stone while a human family watched from the side annexe. The chamber narrowed from 1.9m to 1.3m, a wedge cut into the hillside where mortar sealed the gaps and later walls leaned against its ribs. That household turned a dead man’s house into a living one, proving the tomb could still hold warmth.

On a W-facing slope in mixed rough pasture and exposed limestone pavement. Drawn and labelled as ‘Cromlech’ on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map. Described by de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 54) as a well-preserved wedge tomb (L 3.5m; Wth 1.9m at front, narrowing to 1.3m at rear; av. H 1.5m) orientated SW-NE. The tomb chamber comprised a NW sidestone (L 4.5m; H 1.6m at SW, sloping to 1.1m at the NE; T 0.25m) with its top edge dressed (ibid.). The SE sidestone (L 3.6m; H 1.6m at SW, sloping to 1.35m at the NE; T 0.2-0.25m) was also dressed on its top edge. The close-fitting but slightly outward-leaning backstone (L 1.3m; H 1.45m; T 0.15m) at the NE end had a gap (Wth 0.45m; H 0.4m) in the lower SE corner which appeared to be a relatively recent break (ibid.). The tomb’s large capstone (L 3.75m; Wth 2.5m) was cracked through c. 1.5m from its SW end, as were the sidestones. There were remains of outer-walling at the SE of the tomb, where a line (L c. 4m) of three slabs set on edge ran N-S, almost parallel with the chamber’s SE sidestone at a distance of c. 1.1m away. The rectangular NE slab (L 1.35m; H 1.3m; T 0.15m) in this outer-walling was larger than the central (L 1.4m; H 0.55m) and SW (L 0.6m; H 0.1m; T 0.12m) stones. The chamber floor was uneven. According to Westropp (1905, 217), the tomb was inhabited during the mid-19th century ‘with a small side-annexe to the south, once adopted as a habitation for the family pig’, and mortar filled the gaps between its structural slabs (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1961, 54). The tomb was also incorporated into several later stone walls, one of which obscured the NW face of the central slab in the tomb’s outer-walling (ibid.). An inspection of the tomb in 1998 found it unaltered in the interim, but it was observed that the surrounding later drystone walls are wide and double-faced. One runs N-S to the W of the chamber, then turns E just to the S of the chamber and almost blocks it off, and then turns S again. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 23-10-2025

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1000 BCE). Its depiction on early 19th-century maps indicates historical recognition and possible continuity of local knowledge about the site.

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