What is recorded here

Wedge tomb in Ballynoony West is a ruined Neolithic gallery on a low hill overlooking the Black Water valley. Its roofstones were removed in the early nineteenth century, leaving a narrow chamber of scattered stones and memory. The place still holds the shape of ancient hands, even though much of its structure has been lost to time and disturbance.

Close to the summit of a low hill (192m) overlooking the Black Water valley to the SW. The monument is ruined and has been partly dug out and disturbed. It consists of the remains of a gallery (L 5.2m; Wth 1m narrowing to 0.7m at E). The N side is formed of four orthostats including one transversely-set stone near the W end. Only two orthostats remain of the S side. To the S of the W of these are two buttress stones. There is a noticeable decrease in height of the gallery walls from W to E. Four outer-wall stones survive to the N of the gallery; one is almost prostrate. The area between the outer-wall and gallery side is filled with stones among which it is possible to distinguish a buttress-stone towards the W end. Two displaced slabs lie immediately W of the gallery. There is some evidence for mound to the N and S of the tomb though much of it appears to be covered by field debris and material thrown out from the earlier diggings at the monument. The gallery was formerly covered with roofstones but these were removed in the earlier 19th century (Cody 1851, 386; Borlase 1897, vol. 2, 405, Knocktopher no. 6). Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 10 May 2021

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1000 BCE). Its location on a prominent hill suggests it had ritual or ceremonial significance, typical of wedge tombs in the Irish landscape.

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