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Moylisha

Portal Tomb

<b>Moylisha</b>Posted by ryanerImage © ryaner
Also known as:
  • Labbanasighe

Nearest Town:Tullow (10km WNW)
OS Ref (IE):   S931675 / Sheet: 62
Latitude:52° 45' 2.23" N
Longitude:   6° 37' 15.78" W

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Photographs:<b>Moylisha</b>Posted by bogman <b>Moylisha</b>Posted by bogman <b>Moylisha</b>Posted by ryaner <b>Moylisha</b>Posted by ryaner <b>Moylisha</b>Posted by ryaner Maps / Plans / Diagrams:<b>Moylisha</b>Posted by ryaner

Fieldnotes

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There's a faint track marked on sheet 62 at the north end of Moylisha hill. To get to it you need to enter the white gate at the edge of the farm buildings and walk up to the fifth gate on your left. The farmer was more than happy to allow me up the track and offered directions.
Over the aforesaid 5th gate, walk through 2 fields in a south-east and upward direction and you will spot the site in the corner of the 2nd field by the pine plantation.
This is one of the best sites I've visited in Wicklow. It's a pity that it's not better looked after. The OPW sign was in bits on the ground. The tomb itself is now overgrown with bracken and gorse. Those negatives aside, the stones here are very well preserved and the layout very easy to see. It's a pity that the roofstones are cast aside and left on the ground. A small bit of restoration here would not go amiss.
ryaner Posted by ryaner
9th August 2006ce

Folklore

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The name of the monument is variously given as Lob-in-a-sigh, Leaba an Sidh; on the Ordnance Survey map it is recorded as Labbanasigha. O'Donovan says the monument was called "Leaba na Saighe (Lectus canis venatica) where it is supposed a famous huntsman of old interred a favourite greyhound bitch." Perhaps it is not unreasonable to suggest in the light of the discovery of the javelin mould that the name may have some connection with the Irish word saighead (spearhead).
When the cairn was excavated, there were found two halves of a sandstone mould for a loop-socketed spear head, in the base of the cairn at the east end of the main chamber.

In 'The Moylisha Megalith, Co. Wicklow' by Gearóid Ó h-Iceadha, p119-128 in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Vol. 76, No. 3 (Oct., 1946).

There are many sites in Wales with 'Filiast' in their name: also meaning 'Greyhound Bitch'. I think Leaba an Sidh would mean the bed of the fairies?
Rhiannon Posted by Rhiannon
17th October 2018ce
Edited 17th October 2018ce