Images

Image of Beltany (Court Tomb) by ryaner

The chamber stands on a platform over a metre above the surrounding ground. The stones in the foreground are what I believe to be the revetment of the covering cairn.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Beltany (Court Tomb) by ryaner

The remaining roofstone/lintel is over the jambstones between the first and second chambers. The hulking mass on the right foreground is a fallen roofstone.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Beltany (Court Tomb) by ryaner

The tomb is very ruined and just about hangs on to some of its character. I was surprised at how much is left.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Beltany (Court Tomb) by ryaner

Another fallen roofstone now seals the entrance from the first chamber into the second. The low sidestone of the second chamber is at bottom left. There may have been more to this stone, or another course above it, that supported the roof.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Beltany (Court Tomb) by ryaner

Looking down the western side of the gallery with the broken roofstone in the foreground.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Beltany (Court Tomb) by ryaner

The two large stones leaning to the left and right on the first chamber sidestones are said to be two parts of the same roofstone that covered the chamber.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Beltany (Court Tomb) by ryaner

The large laterally facing slab is thought to be the portal stone of the eastern arm of the court. The two stones to its right are fallen court stones.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Beltany (Court Tomb) by ryaner

Approaching from the south. To the left and right of the chamber are much of the cairn’s frontal revetments. Most of the court stones are gone.

Image credit: ryaner

Articles

Beltany

The A5 Great Northern Road to Derry becomes Beltany Road north of Omagh town. It bends to the east just south of Mountjoy village, which it bypasses, and almost follows the contours of the Shrule river valley, before straightening out once again, this time practically hugging the Shrule having passed the Ulster-American Folk Park. Two kilometres north of the park there is a chambered grave marked on the OS map, west of the road.

It’s not an easily accessible site. The A5 is a busy and fast road. Though it’s only 150 metres away from the road, over a gate and up a pasture field, I’d never seen nor heard of it anywhere else other than on the NISMR and it’s easy to see why. I’ve passed it maybe twenty times and never given it a second thought. And now, having visited it, I discover there’s a fairly intact wedge tomb not 100 metres to its north-west, incorporated into a field boundary. Ah well, the perils and joys of stone-hunting.

There is much to see here, even if the gallery is terribly ruined. Like a lot of Tyrone sites, much of the surrounding cairn remains, its frontal revetments in evidence. Or maybe I’m mistaken – I would have thought that the floor of the court and gallery would be level with the surrounding field, but no, like at Loughmacrory 16 kilometres or so to the east, both are raised about a metre above. Slightly puzzling, a trait I’ve found at many Tyrone sites.

There is very little of the court remaining, three stones on its east side. The gallery is smashed and the roofstones broken up and flung about. Some of the chamber sidestones are still there and some have been removed, conjuring up imaginings of the looters using measuring equipment to pick the choicest examples. There is one lintel/roofstone still in situ over the jambstones dividing the first and second chambers of the gallery. It gives the place some small bit of character.

I didn’t hang around – this was one of the first sites in a busy itinerary – but experienced enough to remain impressed. Set on a ridge of above the Shrule valley, the views east into the southern Sperrins were gorgeous in the September sunshine. It’s aligned roughly north-south, with the entrance at the south. The valley side continues to rise to the west up to the peak of Bessy Bell with its summit cairn, said to be a possible court tomb, at 450 metres. Another site for another day, and maybe that elusive wedge tomb too.

Sites within 20km of Beltany