What is recorded here

A partially collapsed wedge tomb in Maryfort or Lismeehan still holds one large sidestone and a broad fractured capstone, though its other side has fallen or sunk beneath the grass. The stones are not a complete chamber, but they preserve the shape of a place where people once directed death, memory and season along a narrow axis. It sits small on a low rise, close to a factory and a timber fence, yet it belongs to a much longer time when Clare landscapes were made visible through stone.

On top of a small, low rise, in improved pasture and parkland of the former Maryfort Estate. Depicted on the 25-inch OS map as a small oval feature and depicted on the 1921 edition of the OS 6-inch map and named ‘Cromlech’. This monument appears to be the partially collapsed remains of a wedge tomb (overall dims. 1.9m NE-SW; 2.2m NW-SE; overall max. H 1.2m) now consisting of the NW sidestone (L 1.2m; Wth 1.1m; T 0.2m) and a substantial capstone (L 1.8m; Wth 1.7m; T 0.3m). The corner of a third, irregular-shaped stone (L 0.8m; Wth 0.4m; max. T 0.3m) is evident to the immediate S of the capstone. The monument would have been orientated long-axis NE-SW had the NE sidestone survived in situ. This has collapsed and the capstone has fallen on the NE side. There is a slight ‘mound’ under this end of the capstone and around it suggesting that the missing NE sidestone may be lying prostrate below the sod and vegetation. The visible orthostats are of a weathered limestone. The capstone is fractured and pitted with irregular solution marks upon its surface. The NW sidestone is smoother in comparison, although is cracked across the SW corner. De Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, No. 102) describe a circular mound (diam. c. 4.5m; H c. 1m) surrounding the tomb, however they acknowledge that most of this mound may not be original as it had been used to dump field clearance stones at the time of their survey. The monument is located within a modern square-plan enclosure (4.5m NE-SW; 4.5m NW-SE) defined by a timber fence, which is set c. 0.8-1.5m from the orthostats. A factory boundary is c. 22m to SE. The following items have been uploaded: CL035-034----_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) CL035-034----_01.jpg From SW. General view of monument within fenced area. CL035-034----_02.jpg From NW. General view of monument within fenced area. CL035-034----_03.jpg From NE. General view of monument within fenced area. CL035-034----_04.jpg From SE. General view of monument within fenced area. Compiled by: Mary Tunney, Alison McQueen and Vera Rahilly Date of upload: 9 July 2018

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1000 BCE). Its location on an elevated site suggests it may have had ritual or ceremonial significance for the local prehistoric community.

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