Images

Image of Ballymaice (Passage Grave) by ryaner

Over the central cist/chamber looking north-east.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Ballymaice (Passage Grave) by ryaner

Kerbstones on the southern arc of the tomb. The chamber has been engulfed in the gorse in front of the stones.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Ballymaice (Passage Grave) by ryaner

Pano looking north-east over the monument out to Dublin Bay.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Ballymaice (Passage Grave) by ryaner

Ballymaice from up a tree. It’s easy to see why this was called a stone circle on the old OS maps. In fact it would be hard to argue against that classification, and say that there was a cist in the middle.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Ballymaice (Passage Grave) by ryaner

Ballymaice looking north-east towards Howth & Lambay (between the trees)

Image credit: ryaner

Articles

Ballymaice

I can drive to within a 5 minute walk of this little tomb. It’s now more open and accessible than I’ve ever seen. So what better to do in these days of plague and isolation than to take the 10 minute drive in the social isolation direction, up into the low Tallaght hills? Well, like most on here, I’d do that anyway, and like most everyone else, hours and days of bewilderment are beginning to grind.

Someone has taken it upon themselves to clear the monument of gorse. There’s a hammock strung between the two trees to the north-east, and there’s the remains of a substantial fireplace in the quarried gouge in the same direction. The remains are opened up, the central cist, or what remains of it, are visible, and all the kerbstones are uncovered. It’s more than I that reveres this place.

The views across Tallaght, further across Dublin City and Dublin Bay and thence over to Howth are fantastic. Though what is still extant is relatively scant, you can see why the ancestors picked this site and put in the effort to give their dead a fitting tribute. The forestry to the south and west crowds the stones a bit, but the power of the place persists. LilyMae and I left a little less despondent.

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