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Cloghleagh megalithic cemetery and the vandals of Kilbride

What a strange afternoon! Scorching sun and puzzlement below Seefin. On my last trip out I'd found some interesting stuff on Seefin (aka Scurlocksleap) and wanted to return there at the earliest opportunity. What with the heat, however, I thought I'd opt for something gentler and Cloghleagh is marked on the map as beside the road. The cairn is just beyond a very modern farm gate at the top of a large clearance in the forest.

Cloghleagh — Images

05.06.06ce
<b>Cloghleagh</b>Posted by ryaner<b>Cloghleagh</b>Posted by ryaner<b>Cloghleagh</b>Posted by ryaner


This cairn is just a pile of rubble about a metre and a half to 2 metres high. It has obviously been disturbed and the stones just thrown back up to form an irregular pile. It could be that the smaller stones of the cairn were thrown back on first, for what can now be seen are the large, structural stones. There are some quartz boulders amongst these and they are mainly on the south-west side.

When I mentioned this place the last time, Fourwinds had said that there are 3 cairns here, so off I set. This was a trudge around this largely overgrown field. In the end I believe I discovered the other 2 cairns, but I also came across 3 other cairn-like mounds. There really isn't much to see with lots of gorse and I couldn't make out any sort of tell-tale kerbing on any of the mounds. I kept glancing up the ridge at Seefin and regretting not making the extra effort.
There's tons of large stones scattered about this site that is a clearance running roughly NE to SW through a pine plantation. I can only guess that it wasn't planted because of the cairns, but there has been large-scale disturbance of most of the stones in the field. The feeling I got as I struggled around the place was that I was in a megalithic cemetery, literally and figuratively.

Disappointed, I headed for Knockatillane and the cairn marked at O038179 on sheet 56. The map shows it at the end of an avenue of trees and they're there, but where's the cairn? I didn't spend too long looking as I was on private land without permission. I passed what may be some standing stones but it's hard to tell. Though I was in a hurry I was still pretty determined and I climbed a few fences to double-check.

Knockatillane — Images

05.06.06ce
<b>Knockatillane</b>Posted by ryaner<b>Knockatillane</b>Posted by ryaner

There was one field that had massive stones as its boundary wall. I believe this field was where the cairn may have been and that it ended up as part of the wall. In fact the stones look as if they could have been part of something greater than a simple cairn.

Overall, a let-down of a day. Should you happen this way you could avoid these two places without missing much and besides, there's plenty of excellent site close by.
ryaner Posted by ryaner
5th June 2006ce
Edited 16th September 2006ce


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