CianMcLiam

This is a monster of a boulder, propped up on limestone pedestals and partly embedded in the hillside. Was it a burial chamber? Hard to tell, it certainly does just look like a larger version of the many similar sandstone boulder on pedestals seen around the park.

The cup and rings do look pretty convincing from some angles, this is quite a soft stone so perhaps they are just very badly weathered. There definitely is a pair of cup and rings on a small boulder further up the path from the track, even in the unfavourable sunlight and bleached texture of the stone, some carving work was noticeable.

The Archaeological Survey of Co. Louth has a nice photo of some rock art here but I dont think I found the panel that was illustrated. The large outcropping here has been partly bulldozed in the not too distant past, hopefully the best of the rock art did not dissapear with it.

I did manage to find a single cup and ring at the western end of the outcrop, with some possible cup marks beside which are somewhat dubious. The outcrop is very overgrown so there could be lots more underneath.

Incorrectly marked on the other side of the road (or maybe there is another panel there which I failed to locate), this large stone sits in a field beside a large B&B (’The Milestone’) and can be seen from the road and the large standing stone that now sits in the garden of the B&B.

It has been suggested that the stone once stood upright and on first sight it does look like a fallen menhir. Another smaller stone lies a few paces away so it may have made a two-stone row, another possibility is the other large standing stones close by all formed part of a longer stone row that would have been very impressive.

The stone is arrow shaped and most of the markings are near the broad end with just a single cup and ring near the point. The stone is about 4-5m in length, 2m wide and 1.5m high as it presently sits.

If the carvings were done while or before the stone stood, the radiating grooves and gutters (parrallel with each other) would have run across rather than up or down the stone which seems ‘wrong’. As the stone now sits, they run down the sloping surface from the cup and rings which are mostly along the top ridge and part of the way down the slope.

Some boisterous bullocks prevented me getting further than the gate but the stones are wonderfully skylined from the crossroads.

A headstone commemorates three friars killed by Cromwellian soldiers in 1651 near this spot, the stones were regularly whitewashed like many stones but perhaps with more resonance here.

This is a fantastic example of a Burren type wedge tomb, it also has quite easy access from the nearby road.

You cross a number of small ruinous field walls but the last of these is in fact the remainder of a ring fort according to the small booklet ‘A Burren Journey’, available locally.

To the south east of the tomb, just a few yards, is what looks like a small cairn about the same size as those found at Beaghmore, to the south west, adjoining the ruined ring walls, is a circular room or hut foundation with a hearth.

The tomb itself is quite roomy with rubble scattered on the floor, there is some kind of entrance arrangement with some large stones which once formed a facade with a possible entrance fromt he side of the court, alá West Kennet Longbarrow in its present state.

Got some beautiful flashes of glorious sunshine through the heavy clouds here today but the strong winds blew over my tripod with two flash units on, breaking both :(