What is recorded here

Wedge tomb in Poulbaun (burren By.) is a Neolithic gallery grave on a cliff-edge plateau in County Clare, its chamber still holding the shape of hands that lifted stone before written memory. The precipice drops one hundred and seventy metres east, so the dead faced the sky rather than the earth. People may have gathered there to point into distance, to name the fallen, or to warn the living that clarity begins at the edge of loss.

In elevated rocky pasture, on an E-facing slope near the E edge of a large limestone plateau, with a sheer precipice c. 170m to the E, and within an extensive multiperiod field system (CL005-160001-). Not shown on the 1839 or 1916 OS 6-inch maps. Described by de Valera and Ó Nualláin (1961, 9-10) as a ‘wedge-shaped gallery grave’. The following details are from that survey. A wedge tomb orientated N-S comprising the remains of two large side sidestones, a backstone and a broken doorstone defining a rectangular chamber (L c. 3.2m; Wth c. 1.6m) set within a low mound (c. 7.5m N-S; c. 5.5m E-W). The E sidestone consists of two large fragments of the same slab (L 4.3m). The S fragment is in-situ (L 2.12m; H 1.15-1.35m). Its top edge slopes down to the N and is dressed. The N fragment has collapsed. The W side of the chamber is composed of two fragments of stone, representing the remains of a single cracked slab, the N fragment (L 2.3m; H 1.1m; T 0.1m) being slightly larger than the S fragment (L 1.65m; H 0.3m; T 0.1m). The top edges of both stones are badly broken. The backstone (L 1.5m; H 1.2m; T 0.2m) is at the N end of the tomb. Its top and W edges are dressed. The S end of the chamber is defined by two low stones that taken together represent part of a broken doorstone (L 1.1m; H 0.12m; T 0.08m). The chamber is parallel sided, being higher at the S (H 1.35m) and lower towards the N (H 1.2m). Three low stones (H 0.05m) set beyond the S end of the E sidestone may be packing or the remains of outer walling. Several partly concealed slabs (max. dims. L 1m; Wth 0.75m) lie outside the chamber and may be remnants of the capstone. Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell Date of upload: 30 September 2025 See linked document with details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume I. County Clare. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1961). Date of upload: 24 December 2011

Wedge tomb, dating to the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age (c. 2500–1000 BC). Its location within a multiperiod landscape highlights its significance in understanding prehistoric settlement and funerary practices in the Burren region.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.