Late evening at Castlelanacht, 2/5/06
Image credit: Ken Williams/www.shadowsandstone.com
CianMcLiam
New budget accomodation only 5mins walk from the Brú na Bóinne centre. Very nicely decorated inside with leather sofas and plasma screen in the common room, rooms are comfortable and staff are very freindly. Has both double rooms and dormer rooms for very good prices.
Dowth now boasts a funky new information board which is actually quite good, very much along the same lines as Poulnabrone. This is the diagram of the chambers.
Image credit: OPW
Without me!
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
Not sure if you can see the line of sheep crossing the top of the mound but then I didn’t until I got back the enlarged print!
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
A virtual 360 degree view of the stones and plateau.
This stone row was marked on my Ireland Road Map and since I was in Cavan town I decided to investigate. After following the map I came to a parking area with a half buried sign for ‘Finn McCool’s Fingers’ which sounded like it could be what I was looking for or else Birdseye had dumped good ole’ Captain Birdseye and rebranded. Luckily my first guess was correct.
The steep track up the hill must be treacherous in bad weather but it was well trampled, this site seems popular with someone. The forest marked on the map has been mostly cleared save for a few fallen trees blocking the track at the top of the hill but once you get to the site the views are very expansive.
The stones themselves are not massively tall (highest is just short of six foot) but are quite bulky and its easy to see why they were given the nickname. Four standing stones form a row with a low fallen/natural stone at the rear and a few metres in front of the row is what looks like a natural outcrop which is around a foot high but very wide and quite flat. In all the arrangement does resemble five fingers and a thumb (the outcrop) sticking out from the hill below.
There was evidence of recent fires and other alcohol fuelled activity here but the stones are untouched and the rest of the plateau is untouched. A nice place to sit in the mid-day sun but maybe not as hospitable on a rainy/windy day.
To get here follow the R188 from Cavan to Cootehill under the new bypass bridge, take the next right turn to the very small crossroads, turn left and keep going over the hill for about 2km until you see a small sign (Finn McCools fingers) on the right in the hedge in a small parking area. Park here and hike up the hillside track and turn left over the stiles, the track brings you straight to the stones.
This might need an explanation as to what you are looking at! The photo was taken from the passage, the two green stones at the side are part of the passage, the stone at the bottom is the sill stone into the chamber. Between these stones is the central chamber with the rear chamber and ‘equinox stone’ dead ahead. The corbelling of the roof is also visible and the light inside the chamber is natural light from the entrance and the grid in the roof (its a 30 second exposure). There’s a bit of flash on the passage stones on each side to make up for me blocking the light coming in.
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
Ordering pizza deliveries in the neolithic was a long drawn out affair involving the whole community
Image credit: Ken Williams
The limestone pavement surrounding the tomb varies from angular shapes and cracks to blob-like hollows
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
Poulnabrone has its own climate it seems, over an hour and a half it rained, shined, hailed and hurricaned. This was taken when the sun managed to reach through the thick cloud for a few seconds.
The broken stone in front of the tomb is the portal stone that was removed for replacement in the 1985/86 excavations.
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
Taken from the field. I cant picture now how badly overgrown it was, all I know is I hopped over the wall last time I was here and didn’t bother taking pictures.
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
The hedge has been cleared away from the dolmen, you can almost picture it now in the context of the landscape.
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
If you haven’t been to Kilmogue dolmen before, or even if you have, now is the best time to go. The hedges and overgrowth have been cleared to the great credit of the landowner or whoever took the time to clear the site up a bit and its possible to see the dolmen much better than previous visits here where I failed to get a single decent photo. The far side of the dolmen on the other side of the field wall is possibly now the best looking side though both views are impressive. Maybe its just the surprise at being able to see so much more than usual. Look at the photos and plan your journey now!
The two co-joined concentric circles with inter-linking gutter
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
The eastern side of the stone
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
At last! A photo where you can actually see what the stones look like. Nice huh?
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
Ever felt like you’ve shrunk in the wash??
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
Cairn T seen past the kerb of Cairn S
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
Inside Cairn U we find this masterpiece, verging on the obsessive-compulsive perhaps!
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
I have scouted this place for a long time trying to come up with a good angle, I think this is it.
The Lia Fáil (Stone of Destiny) is dead centre on the horizon, beiside it the memorial tombstone.
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
In the early morning light.
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
Sunlight hitting the back stone of the chamber on the 15/2/06 a few minutes past 8am, still an impressive sight nearly two weeks after the date of alignment.
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
The interior of the mound, the floor of the passage was of course strewn with ‘offerings’ and rubbish, removed what I could reach. Carvings are on the large stone on the left of the passage.
Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com
The kerbstone of the ‘Seven Suns’, featuring all seven suns and other carvings.
Image credit: Ken Williams - ShadowsandStone.com
Three of the ‘suns’ carved on to the kerbstone opposite the south entrance
Image credit: Ken Williams - ShadowsandStone.com
A tourist guide type shot, 9/2/06
Image credit: Ken Williams - ShadowsandStone.com
Its difficult to show the passage tomb in the context of the massive banks of the henge around it, this is about the only way it works. Idea borrowed from Kenneth McNally’s book ‘Standing Stones’.
Image credit: Ken Williams - ShadowsandStone.com
