What is recorded here
Knockastumpa still holds a wedge tomb where a fallen roofstone lies beside two standing walls, waiting for hands strong enough to lift it back into darkness. The chamber stretches nearly three metres through hill pasture, large enough for a person to crawl inside and listen for the echo of forgotten voices. Bog and grass have swallowed much of the structure, but the stones remain aligned east to west like a threshold between the living world and the time before memory.
In rough hill pasture, on the SE-facing slopes of Knockastumpa. The remains of this wedge tomb consist of two sidestones at N, indicating a chamber c. 2.8m long aligned E-W, and a leaning backstone at E which is partially covered by bog. The roofstone (2.4m x 1.4m; T 0.1m) lies on the ground to the S of the tomb. A leaning stone to the W and other nearby stones, partly obscured by the bog, may all be associated with the tomb.
The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry. Volume I: South-West Kerry' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Date of upload: 30 May 2011
Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1000 BC). Its partial survival includes key structural elements that help in understanding regional megalithic tomb construction and orientation practices.
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
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