The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Thomastown

Passage Grave

Fieldnotes

If this is what they say it is – the remains of a passage grave – then it is of the undifferentiated variety, and diminutive at that.

From the very small road and over the fence, south about 150 metres into the field and very visible is a hillock, about 3 to 4 metres tall. This is very possibly man-made. Exploring around it's top there seems to be cairn rubble remaining. Maybe, when the excavators realised that they had disturbed an ancient grave, they had second thoughts and stopped their handiwork. But not before they had scooped out a sizable chunk of the southern side of the mound, revealing the chamberless passage.

What's left of this speculative passage are about 12 stones, most in an alignment onto cairn T in Loughcrew, with the most south-easterly pair forming an 'entrance'. Alas, were this an entrance, the alignment of the tomb would face away from Cairn T which would be behind the tomb to the north-west. So quaint theories may be just that, quaint but wholly incorrect.

All of the tombs on the hills of Loughcrew either align with other tombs to the east, or with the equinox sunrise in the east, so this ones orientation doesn't exclude the possibility that this is a Loughcrew outlier, along with the mound at Bobsville graveyard with its megalithic art another kilometre to the south.
ryaner Posted by ryaner
17th February 2018ce
Edited 17th February 2018ce

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