If that’s not a capstone then... well.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
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May 4, 2022
Looking south-east(ish) – I think. A settlement lies beyond the near ridge.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Note what seemed (to me) an obvious displaced capstone. Rhinogs Fawr and Fach rise beyond..
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
The well-preserved cist...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
From a distance, the monument appears a (sadly) typically ‘hollow’ cairn. Happy to report it is most definitely not.
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Looking approx eastward across the cairn...
Image credit: Robert Gladstone
May 3, 2022
There’s just no getting away from how colossally weird these stones are – you feel that anything that you say about them would not in any way do them justice. It’s a bit like being confronted by Munch’s Scream, a raw shout from the core of us, pointing to our own ultimate annihilation and rendering us silent. They are both ghostly and otherworldly, and weirdly human at the same time, leaving you with your consolatory pondering. I don’t have much else to say, just that you have to see them.
The Lusty More man is obviously the lesser of the two here but, on its own, would have you travelling miles to see it. Faded now, it’s power waning, and placed so close to the ‘Janus’ figure, you get quickly distracted. However, all is not well at Caldragh – to my untrained eye, the Janus figure is beginning to erode badly, almost crumbling in places. I would understand entirely if it was moved indoors. That said, it would be a shame if it happened – the experience of having this place all to yourself, to contemplate the utter strangeness of the carvings, is one of the highlights of megalithic Ireland.
May 2, 2022
Like the shattered, semi-devoured carcass of a beached whale, the remains of Cavantillcormick dual court tomb sit on a slight, boggy ridge, scattered stones jutting above the turf and what’s left of the cairn in a barely discernible pattern. I’d approached the monument from the neighbouring field entrance about 250 metres to the south-east, gone down into a ditch and clambered up over a wall and then traversed the marshy ground to be confronted by what is a wreck of a tomb that manages to retain just a small bit of dignity.
Thankfully what does remain doesn’t seem in any danger of being removed, for the moment. Much of the poorer land in Fermanagh, and Tyrone for that matter, seems to be in the constant process of improvement. You would hope that any ideas of that here would take the neolithic court tomb into account, but there’s no guarantee of that. Cavantillycormick (probably Cabhán Tulaigh Cormaic ‘hollow of Cormac’s hill’) and its surrounds has a mix of pasturage and a small amount of tillage and land hunger may return.
You could despair at the destruction here but of the remains of the two tombs, the western is better, with a displaced roofstone over its chamber. The sense of tragedy is increased at the eastern remains, two, maybe three stones left standing. Still, there’s a sense here of something that is yet worthwhile. The ruggedness, the barely contained wildness, the raw beauty of the surroundings, and the wreckage of the ancient memorial, all combine into a small celebration of the determination of those who eked out their existence here all the way back six thousand years ago.
Details of the two cairns to the SW and south of the summit, excerpts from the Cornwall & Scilly HER:
SW cairn (SW 4191 3545)
WC Borlase recorded two cairns at Watch Croft. The south west barrow, 8.8m in diameter and enclosed by a ring of twenty stones set on edge, was excavated by him in 1863. Inside he found a cist containing an urn. On top of a cist, below its covering stone he found several Roman coins. The OS surveyed the cairn at 1:2500 in 1960. It is 1.7m high and 13.0m in diameter, and consists of a circular dry stone wall of large granite blocks with loose granite rubble piled within and around it. The top is slightly inclined towards the centre and a large outcropping rock is built into the south side of the wall. The cairn is very spread and mutilated by two excavations within the walling. The natural rock and shallow depression mentioned by Borlase is just inside the north circumference of the wall. The depression may be natural as two other large rocks near the cairn here have well formed rock basins. No trace remains of the cist which Borlase discovered.
Southern cairn (SW 4205 3524)
Pool in 1960 noted a barrow at Trevean. The OS who surveyed the remains at 1:2500 in 1961 record a cairn with a maximum height of 1.2m. The perimeter is retained by a drystone wall of large stones with a pronounced inward batter. The wall is mostly of large stones on edge but in places there are two courses visible. An excavation trench has been driven through the mound from east to west with a large circular hollow a little east of the centre. Spoil from this excavation is scattered on the outside of the cairn, particularly to the north east. Russell in 1971 lists the extant remains of a mound with retaining wall.
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A linear group of three barrows on Bosvenning Common. Extracts from the Cornwall & Scilly HER, WNW-ESE:
WNW barrow (SW 4138 3130)
The site was partially excavated by WC Borlase in 1862. Extant remains comprise an overgrown earth and granite mound, overgrown with heather and bracken, standing 1.4m high, into which an excavation pit, 0.8m deep was dug, presumably by Borlase, in 1862. Part of a cist was found at the bottom of the pit. No further details. The monument is included in the Schedule. The barrow is visible on aerial photographs as a low earth and stone mound and was plotted as part of the NMP.
Central barrow (SW 4141 3129)
It is unclear whether the site was excavated by WC Borlase though others in this group clearly were. Surveyed by the OS in 1961 who remark on its slightly different constructional make up from neighbouring sites 16171.2 and 16171.1. A fact recorded by Russell who used it as a ring of stones around a natural boulder. Extant remains comprise an overgrown mound of stone and granite rubble 12m in diameter and 0.8m high. A pit dug south of the centre of the site, 0.6m deep, dismissed as a cist, indicates disturbance and two large stones visible on the mound’s surface on its south-west side may be part of a kerb. The monument is included in the Schedule. The barrow is visible on aerial photographs as a low earth and stone mound and was plotted as part of the NMP.
ESE barrow (SW 4143 3127)
The site was excavated by WC Borlase in 1862 which accounts for its mutilated condition. Extant remains comprise an overgrown earth and granite mound 1.4m high and 10m in diameter. A single granite stone set on edge in situ is probably the remains of a cist. The OS in 1961 noted more recent displacement of stone though the CAU survey adds no further details. The monument is included in the Schedule. The barrow is visible on aerial photographs as a low earth and stone mound and was plotted as part of the NMP.
May 1, 2022
Shot taken from the southern, rear of the cairn to give an idea of the extent of the long cairn.
Image credit: ryaner
The entrance is blocked by cairn rubble, added by some enthusiastic but misguided visitors.
Image credit: ryaner
North over the subsidiary chamber towards the lintelled entrance of the main chamber.
Image credit: ryaner
