What is recorded here

The Spanish Graves hide a Bronze Age chamber, not a shipwreck, though the local story gives the stones more life than archaeology ever could. Three capstones and two dressed sidestones still lean across the narrow rock shelf at An Rinn, waiting for the bay to stop breathing on them.

On a narrow rock shelf covered by water-rolled stones and grass, extending E from the shore into Galway Bay NW of Ballyvaghan, known locally as ‘An Rinn’ (Robinson 1977). The site was reported to the National Monuments Service by Mr. Liam Moore of Ballyvaghan in 2007. It appears to be a small and largely buried wedge tomb. The visible elements comprise three capstones (L 0.75–1.1m; Wth 0.55–0.6m; T 0.15–0.25m) aligned ESE–WNW, starting at ground level and rising slightly to the WNW end (H c. 0.15m), and the tops of two orthostatic sidestones (L 0.5–0.6m; T 0.1–0.14m; H 0.22–0.26m) on the SSE side, under the two most WNW capstones. The top edges of the sidestones appear dressed like those at many other Burren wedge tombs. Two transverse stones (L c. 0.7m; T c. 0.15m) are partly visible beneath the WNW capstone. The site is locally known as ‘the Spanish Graves’ and believed to be the burial place of sailors from a wreck out in the harbour (Liam Moore pers. comm.). The following image has been uploaded: CL002-077----_01.jpg View of tomb from SE. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin Date of upload: 14 December 2020

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1000 BC). Its location on a coastal rock shelf suggests a possible ritual or funerary significance related to the surrounding landscape and maritime environment.

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