"A scealp is a cleft or chasm; the word is much used among the English-speaking peasantry of the south, who call a piece of anything cut off by a knife or hatchet, a skelp."
The Origin and History of Irish Name of Places P.W. Joyce
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Grass-covered remains of cairn in garden. Probable capstone of cist visible at S. Cut back on all sides (H c. 1.5m).
Archaeological Inventory of Co. Carlow
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Item no. 129 in the Archaeological Inventory of Co. Carlow – Hillfort. Univallate. Subcircular area on hilltop (max Dims c. 101m N–S; 112m E–W) enclosed by traces of rubble rampart with stone facing. Stone-faced entrance gap at WSW (W 3.1m)
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Excavated in 1961 and found to be almost intact. "The cairn has a maximum height of 10 ft. and a diameter of 50 ft., but there was no kerb: instead, slabs of rock had been wedged into natural crevices around the periphery to prevent the slip of cairn material." Two cists were found, one empty and the other "with the cremated remains of one adult and the sherds of a tripartite bowl-shaped food vessel. This seems to have been a secondary burial."
Estyn Evans: Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland. Batsford, 1966
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Recorded by Liam Price on 18 March, 1932, "'The Druid's Stone' lies on the edge of the 'street'. It is covered on one side with cup-markings, an inch deep, some rather less, of different sizes. The largest is 5 inches across."
Price's sketch shows a stone 29 inches wide by about 2 feet tall with 20 cup-marks. I visited Threewells today, 14/9/07 and couldn't locate the stone. The area where I believe it once stood is totally overgrown.
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According to the Ordnance Survey this mountain is named after the visit of Prince William in 1821 with his father, the reprobate George IV.
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Arch. Inventory of Co. Meath says: Possible stone circle (site) Destroyed by quarrying in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the surviving records indicate a circle of large stones set on end some 21 feet in diam. (Studia Hibernica 7, 142-5)
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Arch. Inventory of Co. Meath puts this in Rathbranchurch, the neighbouring townland, and lists 18 barrows in all.
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Very few details given in the Arch. Inventory of Co. Meath: "Drystone built, L-shaped passage (L. 11m) terminating in beehive chamber with air vent."
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Excavated June/July 1934, cairn completely removed and "re-erected as nearly as possible in its former shape." There were 10 graves/cists found, containing the remains of 16 people. Remains of 2 other people were found in the cairn itself, not in the graves/cists.
The excavators found it impossible to accurately date the cairn "except to say that it belongs to the Bronze Age."
This is worth quoting extensively: "The most remarkable feature of the cairn is the fact that the ten graves contained the remains of no less than sixteen people, exclusive of course of the small traces of two others not actually in the graves. Especially noteworthy is the obvious planning of the entire mound around a central pair of graves which appear to have contained three generations of a family whose bones were probably brought from elsewhere to form the nucleus of the whole mound. It may not be too imaginative to see in this special regard for the remains of the dead, and in the accumulation of burials around the central ones some survival of the megalithic tradition which was so strongly rooted in County Clare."
taken from: A cairn at Poulawack, County Clare
By H O'Neill Hencken, M.A., Ph.D., F.S.A.
Journal R. Soc. Antiquaries Ireland, Series 7 Vol V.
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Ninch
Arch. Inventory of Co. Meath states: "Tumulus. Circular mound (diam. 25m, H 6m) partially excavated and restored in 1979 by P.D. Sweetman (RMAHS 1982-83, 56-68) who demonstrated that it was a burial mound of the late Iron Age."
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Liam Price mentions 3 bullauns in his notebooks:
29th October 1933
"The top of the hill (1171ft) is called 'the Whistling Bank'. Further W than the pond near Johnny McDonnell's house (which was previously Farrel's) are three 'bullaun' stones, all granite blocks, natural boulders. The first has three bowls: two of them 13in. each in diameter, and 7 and a half in. and 8 and a half in. deep respectively: close together, rather vertical sides: the third is very shallow – 10in. diameter, 1in. deep: like a place where a bowl was started."
From: The Liam Price Notebooks – The placenames, antiquities and topography of County Wicklow. Edited by Christian Corlett and Mairéad Weaver. Published by Dúchas The Heritage Service.
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A list, taken from the Inventory of megalithic tombs of Co. Sligo:
Carrowmore (P1) G661337
Carrowmore (P2) G661337
Carrowmore (P3) G661337
Carrowmore (P4) G662338
Carrowmore (P7) G663339
Carrowmore (P9) G665341
Carrowmore (W-M9a) G664343
Tobernaveen (P10) G665345
Carrowmore (P13) G664338
Carrowmore (P15) G664337
Carrowmore (P16) G664336
Carrowmore (P17) G665336
Carrowmore (P18) G665335
Carrowmore (P19) G665334
Carrowmore (P22) G666333
Carrowmore (P23) G666333
Carrowmore (P26) G665333
Carrowmore (P27) G665332
Carrowmore (P32) G665330
Carrowmore (P36) G663329
Graigue (P37) G663329
Carrowmore (P48) G661333
Carrowmore (P49) G660333
Carrowmore (P51) Listoghil G662334
Carrowmore (P52) G661335
Carrowmore (P54) G661335
Carrowmore (P56) G662335
Carrowmore (P57) G662335
Carrowmore (P58) G663336
Carrowmore (P59) G663336
Barnasrahy (P62) G659353
Barnasrahy (P63) G659353
Cloverhill or Knocknashammer G670335
Grange North G639344
Knocknarea South G626347
Knocknarea South – Maeve's Cairn G626346
Knocknarea South G626345
Knocknarea South G626340
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There is a well-looked-after old slate quarry south-east of here at Inchanaglogh (S416308). The cliffs over the Lingaun river, with vegetation clinging precariously, are amazing. There are various modern 'megalithic' sculptures around the site. Well worth a visit if you have the time before or after the passage grave.
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Taxi-driving, graphic artist with a penchant for high hills and low boulders. Currently residing in Tallaght where I can escape to the wildernesses of Wicklow within 10 minutes.
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