Wedge tomb in Kilfree

In a small isolated patch of unreclaimed bog in rolling pasture about 5km W of the N end of Lough Gara. The tomb, much of which is either missing or remains concealed in the bog, faces W and protrudes from a heel-shaped mound (L 9m E-W; max. Wth 7.5m at W). The forward 2.6m of the gallery is visible. Opposed stones, 1.45m apart, form the gallery entrance. A single sidestone adjoins the southern of these and 0.6m beyond this a partly concealed stone may be a fallen orthostat. Two orthostats adjoin the northern entrance stone. Outside these there are two stones that serve to double the gallery wall at this point. A lintel that covered the entrance has slipped off the S side of the gallery. Broken lines of outer-walling to the N and S join a facade running across the W end of the tomb. Two facade-stones link the S side of the gallery entrance to the outer-wall and these articulate with a line of three outer-wall stones, each of which has fallen outwards. The surviving facade-stone at the N articulates with the front of the outer-walling at this side of the monument. It adjoins a line of five stones, the middle three fallen outwards and the easternmost partly buried. Another outer-wall stone stands some 2.3m to the E. A small set stone 2.3m S of the last is of uncertain function. Three displaced stones lie on the mound at the NE. (Ó Nualláin 1989, 78-9, no. 125) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005). Date of upload: 18 January 2008 See linked document with details from Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume V. County Sligo. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1989)

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1000 BCE). Its location in a remote bog setting suggests ritual or funerary significance, typical of wedge tombs in the Irish landscape.