Barrow — mound barrow in Mweelra

Surveyed in 2013 and described by McGuinness (2014, 56) as following: 'Sharply defined circular tumulus (Diam. 15.5m N-S x 15.6m E-W) with irregular stony cap containing protruding boulders close to ESE side. Mound rises up to 2m in height above surrounding ground on NW side, its stony cap being up to 0.51m in height. Protruding boulders are visible at various points around the edge of the mound, with a row of them on the S side; it is unclear whether these are natural or form part of a kerb. On NE side of mound is a low, subrectangular projection (L. 3.5m; W. 3m) with boulders along its E side. A second low projection on W side might represent spill from mound. This mound appears to have been shaped from a natural landform. Tumulus was excavated by Macalister and Praeger after hearing a story that it ‘had been violated in comparatively recent times, and that a cist had been found within it’; they ‘trenched through the mound’ but ‘no evidence was found by us to shew that such a structure had ever existed’. The only feature they noted, aside from a rusty iron hook just under the sod and a broken quartzite pebble close to NNE edge of mound, was as follows: At one place within and near the top of the mound the stones seemed to have been laid intentionally, in an arc 25’ [c. 7.6m] in diameter, surrounding the centre; but nothing was found within it. No account of the excavation was provided, so it is unclear where their trench was dug or whether they accurately reconstructed the monument afterwards. Geophysical prospection by Roseanne Schot in 2005 and 2009, indicates that an arc of ditch surviving to N of the barrow originally formed part of an enormous hilltop enclosure (WM024-187----), defined by a rock-cut ditch and containing the barrow, which encircled the eastern summit of the Hill of Ushnagh (Schot 2010, 6). 4m-wide gap in enclosure at ENE, defined by the inwardly curved ends of the ditch, indicates an entrance aligned on the centrally positioned barrow. Barrow lies near E end of broad summit of Hill of Ushnagh, directly N of the conjoined, figure-of-eight-shaped early medieval fort excavated by Macalister and Praeger, and precisely on a line that takes in part of the ancient avenue approaching this fort from the S and continues on to the Togherstown ringfort and tumulus at the north end of the Uisneach complex. There is a small, shallow pond 21m to N; farther N again is a larger kettle-hole lake, beyond which is another barrow (WM024-030----). Frewin Hill (WM011-131----) and Knockdrin (WM012-032----), sites of hilltop barrows (McGuinness 2012, 28, 34-5), are visible to NE and ENE respectively'. In 2009 a geophysical survey was undertaken in the field enclosing the mound barrow and the results were described as following; 'A prominent mound (WM024-173----), 1.7m high and about 20m in diameter, crowns the summit of the hill and is probably the monument identified in Dindshenchas as Carn Lugdach or the Sidan, where the god Lugh is said to have been buried after being drowned in the nearby lake (Schot, forthcoming; Gwynn 1924, 278-9). The reported discovery of a cist within the mound sometime prior to the 1920s (Macalister and Praeger 1928, 83) suggests that this may be a bowl-barrow of early Bronze Age date. Magnetic gradiometry survey conducted around the mound in 2005 revealed a host of previously unrecorded archaeological features, including a curvilinear feature that was suspected to form part of a large enclosure encircling the eastern summit of the hill (Schot 2005). Evidenced as an arc-shaped, positive magnetic band curving from north to southeast across the western part of the surveyed area, this feature corresponds with a broad, shallow depression skirting the edge of the elevated plateau overlooking Lough Lugh (WM024-064002-), to the east, but exhibits no obvious surface trace elsewhere. Nevertheless, its geophysical and topographical signature suggested it to be an in-filled ditch, and the survey in Area 2 was undertaken to ascertain the extent and potential significance of this feature and to broaden the investigation of the eastern summit. Area 2 comprises an L-shaped extension to the area investigated in 2005, and encompasses lands of approximately 1.3ha, with maximum dimensions 170m east-west by 140m north-south' (Schot 2010, 6). Compiled and revised by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by David McGuinness and Dr. Roseanne Schot Date of revised upload: 09 May 2019