Images

Image of Ballykeel (Portal Tomb) by ryaner

Ballykeel is great – the hill in the distance, to the north, is part of the Ring of Gullion.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Ballykeel (Portal Tomb) by GLADMAN

Even with cloud engulfing Slieve Gullion, Ballykeel captivates....

Image credit: Robert Gladstone
Image of Ballykeel (Portal Tomb) by CianMcLiam

Every once in a while you have to end up with grass up your nose to get a pic without fences and wires!

This was inspired by a photo I’d seen of Trethevy Quoit, it looked just massive so with a bit of wide angle, neck creaking and cow dodging I tried to make the dimuntive Ballykeel into a monster.

Image credit: Ken Williams - [email protected]
Image of Ballykeel (Portal Tomb) by CianMcLiam

Ballykeel in its present day enviornment, complete with barb-wire and fences (shot through the hedge, the out of focus bits). Most of the time I find myself trying to make the most of the situation the stones find themselves in, a new direction for 2006 is warts and all!

Image credit: Ken Williams - [email protected]
Image of Ballykeel (Portal Tomb) by CianMcLiam

Notice that the portal stone to the left has such a tiny point of contact with the capstone that the shadow is extremely thin, barely noticable as if the capstone were floating mid-air.

Image credit: Ken Williams - [email protected]

Articles

Ballykeel

Nestled within the Slieve Gullion caldera, along a road running north-north-west/south-south-east, are three tombs within a kilometre of each other, Latbirget, Ballykeel and Aughadanove. There was a possible fourth 600 metres further south, but nothing remains of that. All three remaining could be said to be the ruins of portal tombs but Ballykeel stands out.

Denuded of its cairn and the sidetones of the chamber, the large capstone rests on the two tall portals and the now shattering backstone. If you look at the point where the capstone rests on the eastern portal, it’s not much more than a fingernail in size. Gravitational forces persist and that backstone may need extra support in the future.

It’s a pity that the authorities didn’t buy the whole field in which the tomb sits. The dolmen is fenced in and it feels that way, no room around the remains of the cairn, but that’s quite a small gripe. At least it’s looked after regularly and access is straightforward and there’s a bit of parking around. I always swing by if I’m in the area, but today was mainly about other places so we didn’t stay too long. A happy place and well worth checking out.

Ballykeel

Pick a nice day to come here, its really spellbinding in the late evening on a fine day. That bloody pallet is still there though...

I took a good wander around the vicinity today, I never noticed how steep the valley is below the tomb, I didn’t go all the way to the bottom but it looks fantastic perched on the edge of the ridge. This is another tomb I find difficult to imagine a cairn around, there is the large platform remains there but it is such a perfect angular structure it would be a shame to hide it away.

There is now an area cleared across the road which, if it is going to be parking, would fit quite a few cars. Most likely another bungalow though...

Sites within 20km of Ballykeel