Court tomb in Cashlan

Located towards the top of a S-facing slope and just below a col with higher ground c. 200m to the NW and c. 300m to the NE. From the descriptions available there is little doubt that this was a megalithic tomb of the court-tomb class. It was described in 1841 in newspaper reports quoted by Borlase (1897, 291-3) as being a hillock in a small meadow close to a farmhouse from which several spits of turf had been removed. The outer wall of the cairn was distinct and measured 46 feet by 16 feet (c. 14m x c. 5m). It was not depicted on any edition of the OS 6-inch map, and the location could have been lost forever. The tomb had been removed by the 1940s and was not even remembered locally. However, the schoolmaster identified the location for Oliver Davies as a place where people knew of the former existence of ‘tunnels’ (SMR file). The original description by Rev. T. Stopford is worth quoting extensively: ‘Outside the entrance is a semi-circular courtyard. The base of the wall surrounding it, as well as that of all the other walls, is composed of large rough stones, some of them several tons weight, standing on the ends, something like those of Stonehenge. The entrance divided the semi-circular wall into two equal segments, and was formed with two larger stones than the others, sufficiently apart to admit a man with ease. Inside the entrance was an oval apartment about 12 feet by 8 feet (c. 3.65m x c. 2.4m), which was arched over from within c. 4 feet (c, 1.2m) of the base. The arch was composed of flat stones of different sizes, so carefully selected and fitted.. that the point of a penknife could scarcely be inserted between them. Each stone projected from the underneath one, until they met at the top of the roof, which was about six feet (c. 1.8m) from the ground. Opposite the entrance, at the other end of his room was a similar entrance into a lobby, which led straight to the other extremity of the building, and off which were six other apartments, all square, and built and roofed in the same manner as the first oval one. Two standing stones forming the entrance from this latter room into the corridor stood somewhat narrower than those of the principal entrance, and were rubbed and worn on one particular part, as it were from the weapons of the inhabitants, returning from their hunting or plundering excursions. The whole of the floor inside was flagged with slabs of the same stone, and the outside of the roof covered with the same material, which is the most remarkable circumstance connected with it as (it is freestone) and the nearest freestone quarry is on Carrowmore Mountain, in the county of Fermanagh, about twenty miles from this place, and the stone there doesn’t cleave into slabs, and is of quite different grain, the former (i.e. the stone of which the floor and roof of the chamber is built) exactly resembling the Scotch sandstone found along the Clyde. The interior was found to be perfectly clean, except that the juice of the bog stuff covered it, having trickled down the walls. This appearance, however, may have been caused by the effect of smoke, though there was no indication of fire having been used inside….. Many of his neighbours say that the owner of the ground, who first dug up part of the house, found some great curiosities in it; but he denies it, with the exception of a round slab of sandstone, with some characters scratched upon it. One of his children let it fall and broke it. Mr. Stopford, the writer of this account, in a letter to Mr. Horgan, refers again to the ‘carved stone’, as he calls this slab, which he states was then in his possession. It was broken, he says, into several pieces. The workmanship is really the most elaborate thing possible, and as there was no other appearance of the chisel, or even hammer having been used in any other manner whatsoever in the whole building, I must conclude that it was an importation as well as the sandstone flags covering over the arched roof outside, and the floor within. He adds his opinion that this flat carved stone was the god brought by the builders on their first arrival in the country. In his anxiety to discover hidden treasure a man completely gutted the whole building, except the large standing stones, and part of the floor.’ The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. See the attached sketch-plan by Windele from Borlase (1897) Revised by: Michael Moore Date of revision: 30 January 2018 Tomb appears to have been completely destroyed. Plan of tomb as recorded by Windele leaves little doubt that this monument was a megalithic tomb of court-tomb class. (PRIA 1960, 123)