A ruined wedge tomb, but a classic of its type. These squat tombs always remind me of some futuristic tank crawling across the landscape. I'd been up at the court tomb and the cashel and felt up for a further little trek down to what's call a 'giant's grave' on the old OS maps at archaeology.ie.
Approaching the tomb from above it's hard not to be disappointed as it's a tangled mess of brambles and briers that you see at first. However, there's quite a bit of the structure left. The two 'portal' stones are massive and there's some evidence of the double kerbing at the back of the tomb. Standing a little to the north-west of the tomb you get a really good idea of where they came up with the name for this classification of Irish tomb, its wedge shape revealed as the tomb gradually tapers back towards the chamber.
The surrounding terrain in these fields west of Magheraghanrush Deerpark show plenty of signs of earth working and quarrying that seem to have been undertaken by the people who first constructed the court tomb, then the wedge tomb and the cashel.
South-east of the court tomb and north-west of the wedge tomb, about equidistant from both, this site is on private land. There's a style in the wall that leads down to it. It's quite a wonderful place, perched above Colgagh Lough and with views west across to Knocknarea. I could imagine this site as a prized and well defended homestead. The souterrain has been uncovered and it's wonderful to see the passage snake down into a corballed chamber. The cashel is very ruinous but is one of those places that tugs at your heart, steeped as it is in the mysteries of pre-history.
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