Passage tomb art in Crathach Thiar (cléire)

Stone (H 4'5"; Wth 1'3") decorated with spirals, chevrons and serpentiform lines in the manner of passage tomb art (O'Kelly 1949, 8-10). Discovered c. 1880 during field clearance on Cape Clear Island and removed to Sherkin Island where it was re-discovered in 1945; presented to UCC and now in Cork Public Museum (CO074-170----). Possibly associated with passage tomb (CO153-010---) to SE (O'Leary 1989, 124-6). Decorated stone described by O'Kelly (1949, 8-10) as follows; 'The decorated stone here described, first came to light some seventy-five years ago. It was found when stones were being cleared from a field in the townland of Glen, in Clear Island off the coast of Co. Cork. The stone is a fairly straight-sided slab of grey-green coarse-grained slate, its maximum dimensions being 4' 5" [1.34m] high, 1' 3" [0.38m] wide and 3" [0.07m] thick. It is decorated on one face only and the ornament appears to have covered the greater part of the surface. However, a large thin lamina has been flaked off the lower third of the stone carrying with it portion of the design. The decorated face is smooth and the ornament which was executed in a pock technique (possibly the lines were rubbed afterwards), is deeply scored and very clearly visible. The design consists of spirals, chevrons and serpentiform lines, the ends of the various devices often running right to the edges of the slab. At the top a single zig-zag or chevron runs horizontally across the face. Down along the left-hand edge of the face are 3 groups of V-shaped marks ; the uppermost of these is triple, the second is double and the third is single. The centre of the face is occupied by three separate spirals. The first and third of these are made up of single lines, while the centre one is based on a double line. All three are turned in 'the same direction and twist in a clockwise direction from their outside edges inwards towards their centres. The right-hand edge of the face contains a double zig-zag which towards its lower end degenerates into a crude serpentiform. The motifs clearly belong to the passage-grave group of carvings and can be paralleled at Newgrange, Bryn Celli Ddu, Gavr' Iinis'. The decorated stone and site of passage tomb (CO153-010----) from which the stone probably came from was described by O'Leary (1989, 124-6) as follows; 'In April 1984, however, an archaeological survey of Clear Island was undertaken, and on the top of the highest hill (533') in the townland of Killickaforavane, a sub-circular spread or cairn of stones was found c. 16m in diameter. In the middle of this cairn was a small hollow bounded on three sides by orthostats. The site consists of a sub-circular spread of boulders, slabs and stones measuring 16.5m NE by SW and 14m NW by SE. In the centre is a depression defined by five orthostats which line the SE, SW and NW sides. To the NE of this feature is a line of five orthostats running NE by SW. In line with these and at the edge of the stone.spread is an orthostat which is oriented NW by SE. There is a further single orthostat 1.5m south of the line of orthostats. Grasses and heather grow on and around the stone-spread on the little soil available and make it difficult to define the perimeter in places, especially in the west and south. There is some peat cover against south-west corner of the chamber: The orthostats vary, in height from 15cm above present ground level to 75cm above present ground level. In the north-west quadrant there is a dry-stone pillar/ approximately 2m in height and 2.75m in diameter. This appears have been formerly used as a trigonometrical station; a new one stands to the west of the site. Near the hilltop are stone field fences which, together with the dry-stone pillar, may have been constructed of stones from the site. As a result of research done by Mr Éamon Lankford of the Clear Island Museum Society, we now know that the decorated stone was found about 1880, in the townland of Croha West (not in the townland of Glen as previously thought) by a Mr Ó Síocháin and Mr Ó Ríogáin while engaged in clearing a field, then the property of a Mr Shipsey. Even without the evidence of the decorated stone, the site does suggest a megalithic monument of the Passage Tomb type. A sufficient number of orthostats remain in situ to trace a passage leading from the perimeter to the chamber in the centre of the cairn. The orientation of the passage falls well within the range of Irish passage tombs generally. The cairn diameter of c. 16m and the tomb length of 8m would place it in the small to medium examples of this type. The field in which the decorated stone was found is a half-mile to the south-west of the hilltop, at an elevation of under 300' [91m], and is beside the roadway to South Harbour. Mr Lankford's research revealed that fragments of pottery were found at the spot'. To see a 3D model of this stone visit: https://skfb.ly/6nwnU See attached drawing of stone taken from O'Kelly 1949, 9, and photographs of stone taken from Cork City County Council website https://www.corkcity.ie/en/cork-public-museum/exhibitions/our-archaeological-collections/pre-history/cape%20clear%20stone%20.html. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 25 August 2022