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This is a newly discovered panel of cup-marks in Ireland and the first confirmed panel of rock-art in the Tipperary and also for a large area in every direction (approximately 80km2).
It is adjacent to a standing stone pair and a large bowl barrow. On a previous visit to the stone pair in 2005, the rock outcrop was covered with grass. However on a visit in March 2014 the grass covering had been eroded away and it was immediately clear that the stone was cup-marked. It was also noted that there were similar cup-marks on the eastern stone of the nearby stone pair. There are expansive views to the west (where Lough Derg is located) and also to the south-west, south and south-east.
To the north the view is limited by rising ground. The hill of Laghtea to the south-west seems to
dominate the landscape from the cup marked panel and this hill was identified as the location of a hill-fort by Tom Condit in 1995. Unusually there are no views of Lough Derg from the panel.
Funnily enough I remember posting here on TMA about possible cup-marks on the standing stone.
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Taken from a "shortenedNTGazette" by Siobhan Geraghty - I found it a few years ago on a council website.
It has all the evidence of being a Court Cairn, with the court facing the slope down towards the Shannon. It is outside the usual national range of distribution of this monument type, but within the North Tipperary megalith rich area. It is associated in local lore with an incident described in the Cogadh Gael re Gabhll, where a group of Leinster men, visiting Brian Boru in Kincora to pay tribute after the battle of became embroiled in a dispute ostensibly about a chess game, before the battle of . The Leinster men departed, but were caught up with by Brian’s men; a skirmish followed, and the Leinster men were buried there.
The story has probably got a deeper meaning. A small stream with passes under the road close to the viewing point is the boundary between the Dioceses of Cashel and Killaloe; and a large boulder further down slope has the name of ‘Knockaunrilaghin’ (RM19 36 ‘possible cairn’ the small hill of the King of Leinster. This points to the area having a long political significance.
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The mound at Barnane is very hard to access. It is within a private horse training complex.
I managed to get in on the 21st June 2014 to watch the sun setting from the mound. I had hoped that the sun would set within the Gap of Barnane or "The Devils Bit" that evening. Unfortunately as per the photo it does not appear to set within the gap.
The mound is overgrown with scrub and furze. It is also known as a "Fairy mound". Another megalithic tomb / boulder burial is 70m away to the east. Originally the mound is thought to have been 20m in diameter. A large boulder in the north-west of the mound is thought to indicate that a megalithic tomb is located within it. It is thought to be similar in morphology as the megalithic tombs at Ardcroney.
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This link is to a piece on RTE news detailing the discovery of this rock-art in Co. Kerry.
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This stone row is a few kms from the village of Letterfrack in Galway. It is located on a ridge of a boggy hill only approximately 200m from the road. The stone row itself is a fine example, it tapers from south-west to north-east with the first three stones being sharp rectangular stones. The fourth stone is a rounded smooth stone and then the final two are very small smooth stones. The day I visited was very misty and so unfortunately I couldn't take in all the views. However through the mist I could make-out the recumbent figure of the island of inisbofin to the north-west. (seen from a different site in the vicinity http://www.megalithomania.com/show/image/4291/cleggan.htm)
The stone row is thought to be aligned to the winter solstice sunset. However the sunsets here at 1.30pm in the afternoon due to the varying heights of the location of the stone row and the mountains around.
When I was exiting the field, a farmer told me that I shouldn't be on the land as their was a "no-entry" sign. The sign is very hard to see so anyone attempting to access should be aware of this.
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Irish Early Christians, Not So Christian After All?
http://www.heritagedaily.com/2014/02/irish-early-christians-not-so-christian-after-all/102191
Excavations at Caherconnell in the Burren region of county Clare on Ireland’s western coast are revealing some interesting practices undertaken by Ireland’s early Christians.
It is traditionally accepted that Christianity arrived in Ireland some time before the middle of the 5th century AD. You might be forgiven, then, for assuming that Christianity and Christian practices could be found throughout Ireland within a century or two of this date.
On a low rise to the side of a shallow valley in a place that later became known as Caherconnell in western Ireland an elderly woman and two babies were buried. Their remains were placed in two carefully constructed stone boxes called cists, both covered by a single low mound of earth and stone. This took place in the second half of the 6th century AD / first half of the 7th century AD.
Recent excavations by the Caherconnell Archaeology Field School are proving otherwise. It was discovered in the summer of 2013 that Caherconnell cashel or ‘caher’ (a circular drystone enclosure containing dwelling houses and other domestic structures) had been deliberately constructed over the top of an earlier burial mound.
This small mound covered two limestone cists. Although disturbed at one end, their contents were still present. The smaller of the two cists contained the remains of a young child, between one and two years of age, and the bones of a baby who was either stillborn or died shortly after birth. The larger cist was only partially present inside the cashel, the rest of it being buried beneath the 3m-wide cashel wall. It contained the skeleton of a woman, at least 45 years of age. She suffered from joint disease, probably as a result of much physical labour over the course of her lifetime.
The results of radiocarbon dating have just arrived, dating the human remains to 541-645 AD and 535-649 AD. This places them well within the chronological bounds of what was once termed ‘Early Christian Ireland’. Clearly, though, these people were not buried in a purely Christian fashion, rather in a mixture of traditional pagan and newer Christian burial practices.
Following the Christian tradition, the bodies were unaccompanied by grave goods and were laid out almost east-west. They were not, however, interred in a Christian cemetery. Instead, they were placed in slab-built cists beneath a low stony mound. Such cists and mounds are commonly found in the pre-Christian prehistoric past. These people appear to have combined their traditional belief system with elements of the ‘new’ religion – hedging their bets maybe?!
The story of these people does not end there. Several centuries after their deaths, in the 10th/11th century AD, the high status cashel settlement called Caherconnell (the caher or cashel of Conaill) was built at this location.
The builders of this new home did not clear this mound and its contents out of their way, nor did they site their enclosure so as to avoid the mound. Instead, they built the drystone wall of their enclosure directly over the top of the mound, leaving approximately half of the mound intact and visible inside the new enclosure. It seems probable that knowledge of the mound and what it contained survived into the 10th/11th century AD, and that the new occupants of the spot deliberately incorporated these ancestors into their settlement. Was this, perhaps, an attempt to legitimize their rule of the area? Like the earlier burials themselves, this practice also has pre-Christian associations.
It seems that being linked with the ancestors, whether by using the same burial method or by physically including them in your home, was a practice that survived the introduction and establishment of the Christian religion in Ireland. Some might say that an obsession with ancestors and where we come from is just as important to us today…
Summer 2014 will see the Caherconnell Archaeology Field School excavate the centre of Caherconnell cashel. The main dwelling house is typically located in this part of the settlement enclosure. With almost 700 artefacts recovered from ‘open’ space inside the enclosure entrance, hopes are high for a very rewarding season this year!
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Link to pic of the stone row. According to Ruggles Prehistoric Astronomy of Britain & Ireland this is aligned to the Major Moonrise.
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After looking at Ruggles book on Prehistoric Astronomy in Britain & Ireland I had this noted as being aligned to the Major Moonset. However this link which features pictures of the row points it toward toward the major moonrise.
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Types of the Ring-Forts Remaining in Eastern Clare (Killaloe, Its Royal Forts, and Their History) by TJ Westropp - "The "Leinstermen's Graves" were described to me in 1892 as "a fine circle of stones." This is most deceptive. They stand on a high heathery shoulder of Thountinna with a splendid view over most of Lough Derg, Inisealtra with its round tower and churches and the hills on the border of Galway. In this lonely spot (hovered over by countless hawks hanging on the wind) is a line of small slate slabs 42 feet long, the largest "pillar" being only 3 feet 6 inches high, by 2 feet 6 inches square, the others usually under 3 feet high.
There is a low mount 17 feet to the north of the "chief pillar. A sort of fenced avenue runs into the slightly enclosed space between it and the alignment."
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This site is aligned to winter solstice sunset (Jack Roberts 2013)
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This stone row is thought to be aligned to summers solstice sun-rise over Mt Brandon.
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This stone circle is thought to have been aligned to the winter solstice sunset (Jack Roberts).
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This stone circle is suspected to be aligned to the cross quarter day sunset.
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It is thought that this stone pair is aligned to the Equinox Rising Sun.
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It is thought that from this possible passage-tomb, that the summer solstice setting sun sets over Cairn T.
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Link to Thomas Damm's image of this stone row - it is meant to be aligned to winter solstice sunset at approx 1.30pm.
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