What is recorded here

Four metres of dressed stone still lie wedged inside the cashel at Ballyganner North, their edges smoothed by hands that shaped a chamber for the dead before the fortress rose above them. The cashel wall spilled across the west end, burying the entrance while the broken capstone scattered into five pieces against the sidestones. People may have watched the valley through that missing opening, reading weather or fate in the light that fell across the chamber floor.

On a slight rise on a S-facing slope overlooking an E-W valley, in rough pasture within a large multiperiod field system (CL009-059001-). Situated at the NW edge and highest point of a cashel interior (CL009-059076-). Indicated and named ‘Cromlech’ on the 1842 and 1920 eds. of the OS 6-inch map. Described by de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 32; attached) as a large wedge tomb chamber (L c. 4.25m; Wth at W 2m, narrowing to 1.45m at E centre; min. H at W c. 1.5m, dropping to c. 1.15m at E), its W end covered by spill from the cashel wall. There were some traces of a mound surrounding the chamber, which was oriented E-W and comprised a single large sidestone at S, two overlapping sidestones at N, and a broken capstone which had collapsed into the chamber. The S sidestone (L 4.3m; H 1.65m at W, 1m at E; T 0.2-0.3m) had a straight and roughly dressed top edge, sloping W-E. The vertical W edge was also worked. Of the two N sidestones, that at W (L 3m; H 1.35m at W, 1.15m at E; T 0.2m) had a dressed top edge and its E end was broken. The E slab at N (L 1.9m; max. H 1.35m; est. T c. 0.15m) overlapped (L 0.25m) the N side of the W slab. Most of its top edge (L 1m) was dressed. The vertical W end was also worked, and the E end bore chipping marks. Because this slab was oriented more WNW-ESE, de Valera and Ó Nualláin (ibid.) thought it may have been a later addition. The capstone had split roughly down the middle, and was in five pieces (L 1.2-3m; T 0.15-0.2m) within the chamber: two leaning against the N sidestones, and three against the S. De Valera and Ó Nualláin (ibid.) followed Westropp (1901, 290) in describing a low Man-made underground passage which extended W from the W end of the chamber into the cashel wall however, an inspection of the tomb in 1997 found no evidence for a Man-made underground passage. This is an example of a cashel being built adjacent to or over an Early Bronze Age ritual structure. Other examples are known in the Burren including Creevagh (CL010-095002-) (Comber 2008, 106-8) and Caherconnell (CL009-030011-) (Hull and Comber 2008, 123-30), as well as two in Lissylisheen (CL009-001026- and CL009-001013-). The following item has been uploaded: CL009-059077-_01.pdf Details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume I. County Clare. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1961) Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 5 April 2022

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. Its location at the highest point of a cashel interior suggests ritual or symbolic importance within the landscape.

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