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A not very strenuous walk from the parking area south of the peak (lots of scorch marks from the burning of cars, glass on the ground from broken car windows – park at your own risk) leaves you in the tangle of masts and fences that contains this ancient tomb.
If all the modernity wasn't here, this would be a beautiful place, with views over the midlands plain to the whole of the west as far as the Slieve Blooms and further, north as far as the mountains of south Armagh, and over to the last of the Dublin/Wicklow hills around Newcastle. As it is this is a well-used place: mountain bikers, dog walkers (and their left behind dogshit) and the clatter of masts and buildings in varying states of decay.
It was a nice walk and the tomb in as unremarkable as I remembered, 3 structural stones visible, robbed out (or excavated) at the top, with no sign of a passage or chamber. It rises to a height of about 3 metres and there are some outlying stones on the west side that may be part of a kerb. I wanted to take in something neolithic on our walk today and was happy I came here.
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Permission refused for proposed Slane bypass
Permission refused for proposed Slane bypass
An Bord Pleanála has refused permission for the proposed Slane bypass in Co Meath, a decision which has infuriated some local residents.
Local residents who had been campaigning for a bypass are angry
An Bord Pleanála has confirmed it has refused permission for the proposed Slane bypass in Co Meath.
The agency decided to reject the planned bridge and roads around the village because the proposal was located very close to the World Heritage Site at Brú na Bóinne.
Other factors included the belief among board members that it had not been proven that no appropriate alternative was available, and it could have diverted traffic off the M1 tolled motorway.
An Bord Pleanála's decision has been greeted with anger by local residents who had been campaigning for a bypass.
Residents say the bypass is essential to improve road safety in the area.
They claim that 22 people have died in accidents on the bridge or on its approaches and are warning more could die as a result of today's announcement.
The Bypass Slane Campaign said it is ''shocked and dismayed'' by the decision. The group was formed in April 2009 in the aftermath of a serious road traffic incident in the village.
In a statement, it said: ''Life in the village, over generations, has been overwhelmed by the dangerous volumes of traffic and by the constant threat to life it brings.
More here: http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0307/slane.html
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Farmer fined €25,000 for destroying ringfort
A 64-year-old farmer has been fined €25,000 at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee for destroying a 1,000-year-old ringfort, which was a protected national monument.
In one of the first prosecutions of its kind to come before the courts, John O'Mahony pleaded guilty to carrying out work on the fort on his farm at Causeway in Co Kerry in February 2008, without notifying the National Monuments Service in advance.
More here:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0302/omahonyj.html
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Stonehenge design was 'inspired by sounds'
Music could have been an inspiration for the design of Stonehenge, according to an American researcher.
Steven Waller's intriguing idea is that ancient Britons could have based the layout of the great monument, in part, on the way they perceived sound.
He has been able to show how two flutes played in a field can produce an auditory illusion that mimics in space the position of the henge's pillars.
Mr Waller presented the idea at the AAAS meeting in Vancouver, Canada.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17073206
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Neanderthal survival story revealed in Jersey caves
By Becky Evans
Digging For Britain
New investigations at an iconic cave site on the Channel Island of Jersey have led archaeologists to believe the Neanderthals have been widely under-estimated.
Neanderthals survived in Europe through a number of ice ages and died out only about 30,000 years ago.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14677434
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Two court tombs, back to back but 5 metres apart, unlike Aghanaglack, a dual court tomb with only a stone separating the galleries. This place is all about place. Yes there's the tombs, the northern one of which is like no other, but it's where they're at is where it's at.
From Manorhamilton, a 5 minute drive to a gate, and a further minute along a track at the side of some forestry and it all opens up. The track remains drivable past the tombs but I parked just before and above them. Wild Irish peatland, in places eroded down to the limestone pavement, and views for miles all around. Benbo to the west is dominant, north-west into Sligo you can see Truskmore and Tievebaun. The plateau that you're on rises to the south and it looks bleak in that direction forever.
I had to come here after reading Anthony Weir's description of the tombs. It was their situation that captivated me however. The wrecks of both tombs take patience to work out. Weir says 2 chambers in the main gallery with 6 subsidiary chambers set into the cairn at the back of the northern tomb.
The southern tomb is less complex with a 2-chambered gallery. Both tombs have some remains of their courts.
I spent most of my time here just wandering about the area, over towards the old farmhouse, marvelling at the formations of the limestone, parts of which are crowned with half a metre of peat. At the end of it all I didn't want to leave. A great spot to camp out in I'd say, though pegging the tent down might be difficult in this terrain. Wonderful place.
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