What is recorded here

Wedge tomb in Caherminnaun West stands on undulating pasture inside a large multiperiod field system, its limestone chamber narrowing from west to east like a mouth pulling closed. The south slab leans outward, the north slab slopes downward, and the small east stone forms a flat-topped back wall, while a fallen slab near the entrance may once have blocked the gap. Cattle graze around it now, and the old mound has almost vanished, but the chamber still keeps its shape: a dark, shallow chamber built for death, abandoned to weather, and forgotten by everyone who has walked past since.

On undulating ground in pasture, within a large multiperiod field system (CL009-059001-). Labelled as ‘Cromlech’ on the 1897 OS 25-inch plan and 1920 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. Described by de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 41) as a rubble-filled wedge tomb (L c. 3m; Wth at W 2-2.5m, narrowing to 1.7m at E; max. H at W 1.3m, sloping to min. 0.65m at E) embedded in a mound, of which only vestiges (c. 4m N-S; c. 1.25m E-W) survived at the E. The tomb was orientated E-W. Each of its sides consisted of a single limestone slab set on its long edge. The S sidestone (L 4.05m; H at W 1.25m, sloping to 0.85m at E; T 0.25m) leaned heavily to the S. Its top edge (L 3m) sloped evenly from W to E, with traces of dressing. The N sidestone (L 3.8m; H at W 1.3m, sloping to 0.65m at E; T 0.25-0.3m) also sloped from W to E, although the E part of its top edge was broken. The E endstone/backstone (L 1.6m; H 0.7m; T 0.15m) had a straight dressed top edge. De Valera and Ó Nualláin interpreted a flat-lying slab (L 1.4m; Wth 1.15m; T 0.2-0.25m) immediately to the W of the tomb as a fallen endstone, which would have partly closed the tomb entrance with a gap (c. 0.7m) between it and the N sidestone. An inspection of the tomb in 1997 found it unaltered in the interim. There is a cashel (CL009-059003-) c. 90m to the SSW. The following items have been uploaded: CL009-098----_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) CL009-098----_01.jpg View of tomb from ENE Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 20 June 2022

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1000 BCE). Its presence within a multiperiod field system indicates long-term landscape use and cultural continuity in the region.

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