Wedge tomb in Gortlecka

On a very low, overgrown E-W ridge in pasture, with limestone pavement c. 140m to the N. Drawn and labelled as ‘Cromlech’ on both the first (1842) and Cassini (1920) editions of the OS 6-inch map. This megalithic tomb comprises a single, large upright slab, orientated N-S (L 2.5m N-S; H 1.2m; T 0.2m) set in a cairn (10.6m N-S; 8.2m E-W; H c. 0.6m). There are two large stones lying prone adjacent to the upright slab: one (L 2.4m; Wth 1.8m) immediately to the E, and the second (L 1.7m; Wth 1.1m) just to the SE. A third, smaller slab (L 1.3m; Wth 0.6m) lies further to the E, in the vicinity of which there is also a NW-SE orientated pavement-like cluster (L 2.3m; Wth 1.6m) of smaller flat-lying, flat-topped slabs (each c. L 0.3m; Wth 0.3m) which are unrelated to the tomb. Westropp (1905, 212) interpreted the upright stone as the W side of a ‘dolmen’. De Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 57) proposed that this may have been a wedge tomb, observing that the slab set on edge resembled the sidestones of many wedge tombs in NW Clare. There is a cist (CL017-076----) c. 260m to the W, and a wedge tomb (CL010-110----) c.685m to the ENE.   Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Conn Herriott   Date of upload: 13-10-2025

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1500 BCE). Its depiction on early Ordnance Survey maps highlights its historical recognition as a megalithic monument.