Late April before the heavier growth obscures the stones.
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ryaner
Clochabhile, Lough Gur, County Limerick
Clochabhile or the Stone of the Sacred Tree unites in itself the Celtic concepts of sacred trees and central stones. The pillar stands a short distance from the Grange Stone Circle at Lough Gur, an area traditionally linked to the goddess Áine and to Fer Í, Eogabal and Eoghan, the mythical ancestors of the mighty Eóganacht sept. The current use of the term eo, which is Irish for ‘a yew’, illustrates the high reverence of the clan for that species of tree and we can easily imagine that Clochabhile was formerly joined by a yew considered sacred to the Eóganachta. The tree and its history are lost, but local lore knows of a magic tree on the bottom of Lough Gur, which would only surface once in seven years.
From Stones of Adoration, by Christine Zucchelli. The Collins Press 2007
© Tailte Éireann | National Monuments Services
LE025-093001- : Megalithic tomb – passage tomb : FENAGH BEG
Situated on a rise in an area of rock outcrop and pasture on the W side of a N-S ravine (Wth c. 100m) that is sometimes the SE end of a turlough extending from Lough Reane, which is c. 800m to the NW. This is a rectangular grass-covered cairn (dims of base 15.7m N-S; 11.9m E-W; dims of top 8.2m N-S; 5.4m E-W; H 0.45m at E to 1.7m at S) with kerbstones on the perimeter at N and a chamber (dims 0.8m x 1.1m) at the centre. Cremated bone, six bone pendants, the head of a bone pin, and one quartz and two chalk balls were recovered from the cairn in 1928 (Gogan 1930, 90). The passage tomb (LE025-093002-) lies c. 25m to the SE, the cairn (LE025-093003-) is c. 50m to the SW, and the portal tomb (LE025-092----) is c. 120m to the N. (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1972, 142; Herity 1974, 277-8, Le 3)
The above description is derived from ‘The Archaeological Inventory of County Leitrim’ compiled by Michael J. Moore (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2003). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
References: de Valera, R. and Ó Nualláin, S. 1972 Survey of the megalithic tombs of Ireland, vol. 3, Counties Galway, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Laoighis, Offaly, Kildare, Cavan. Dublin. Stationery Office.
Gogan, L.S. 1930 Irish stone pendants. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Series 2, 35, 90-95.
Herity, M. 1974 Irish Passage Graves. Dublin. Irish University Press.
The small ecosystem that now occupies the top of the capstone.
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The main stem of the ivy has been cut since I was last here.
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Now is probably the best time of the year to visit this.
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Oriented NNE-SSW and mighty fine.
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General view looking north – some of the covering cairn remains.
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The first chamber – the sidestone in the foreground is 1.7 metres long.
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Over the first chamber of the three-or-four-chambered gallery – a roofstone or lintel partially covers the chamber.
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The front two chambers – the stone in the foreground is the remaining segmenting jambstone that divides the gallery between the second and third chambers.
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From the back of the tomb at the north-west – Sliabh An Iarainn (Slieve Anierin) in the distance.
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The stone towards the bottom left is the backstone of the gallery – the small court to the right has been colonised by the holly tree and the rushes.
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The site on approach from the road – Lough Allen behind in the distance.
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It would be difficult to try and eke out a living on the land here.
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Looking south down the drumlin – the land around here is very poor.
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Looking down on the stone – two complete basins at the top and two broken along the bottom side.
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Dig into the Story in Amplify Archaeology Podcast Episode 44 with Christine Baker
Underneath the quiet fields on the headland of Drumanagh in North County Dublin, lies a truly exciting story. This headland is home to one of the most important promontory forts in Ireland, where an innovative community archaeology programme is uncovering connections between Iron Age Ireland and the Roman World. Lead archaeologist Christine Baker tells us all about it in this episode of Amplify Archaeology Podcast.
“This house was likely built by some of the earliest faming communities to settle in the Cork Harbour region and is assumed to have housed a single family group,” the video explains.
The low eastern arc of the henge – the road up to the Hill of Tara is to the left.
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Zoomed in a bit through the gate. Impressive pice of carving all the same.
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No remedial changes since I last checked here. It’s actually gotten worse.
Travelling around megalithic Ireland a couple or three questions of the imagined tomb-wreckers have frequently arisen: If you’re going to destroy one of these ancient sites, why not obliterate and eradicate it totally? Why leave the scant remnants, the vague outline, of what once was? Is it because mid-destruction you got visited by some phantom in your bed that made you desist? In the end, it’s possible that you got from here what you came for and sated you said fuckit, leave what’s left and who cares? It’s always puzzling – the disrespect shown is sometimes total, and those sites are lost forever, but it’s at places like here in Ravensdale where enough remains to intrigue and tantalise.
I’ll quote in full the description from the Louth Inventory (copyright Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991): “This court-tomb has suffered considerable damage by blasting, and drill holes for dynamite are visible in a number of shattered stones. It consists of a roughly trapezoidal cairn orientated NNE-SSW, incorporating at its N end the inner end of a broad court and the scant remains of a gallery. The N limit of the court is defined by a facade stone at the W, indicating overall court dimensions of about 5.5m deep by 7m wide. Eight stones mark the inner end of the court, four at the W and three at the E. Two of these form the entrance jambs to the gallery which had at least two chambers. The N chamber 3m long and about 1.5m wide, is delimited by two side stones at the W and one at the E. This is separated from the rest of the gallery by a pair of jambs. Beyond these the continuation of the gallery is represented by a single orthostat at the E side and there is no back stone. A field fence curves around the N and W sides of the monument.”
Blasting? Dynamite? So post 1866 then, and more likely well into the 20th century. We’ve heard of this before, in Carrowkeel, but there’s doubts about that. There it was said to be part of the excavation, far-fetched maybe; here it seems that it was simple destruction and the re-use of the stones and antiquarian niceties be-damned. And yet, as mentioned above, they left us what’s here, unprotected as it is. Bizarre.
The small charms of the court with its almost symmetrical arms; the entrance jambs; behind those their chamber segmenting twins, all speak of a classic multi-chambered gallery, unmistakably an ancient burial place. Almost total wreckage of court tombs is quite common in North Louth and the Cooley peninsula it seems. Contrast that with the near complete tombs Ballymacdermot, Clontygora and Annaghmare in neighbouring county Armagh. I’ve been around these parts a lot in the last few years but had always been put off by that Inventory note but I have to say I’m glad to have finally bit the bullet. It’s not that bad of a site compared to others around, just that you wish they hadn’t trashed the place so badly.
A zoom shot from the passage entrance with the Loughcrew Hills visible on the horizon.
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Leaving Calliagh Berra’s house in the blinding, low, early autumn sun.
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Crude basin-stone in the foreground left. There’s another in front of the recess at the back of the chamber visible in the brightness here.
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Sun shining in the neck of the passage at 6pm on September 17, 2024 – a portent of what’s to come at this winter solstice sunset aligned monument.
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The passage entrance with its ever elegant lintel. It gets clambered on regularly and looks a tad precarious in this shot.
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Eastern courtstone. See previous image for it’s twin on the western side.
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Western courtstone. See next image for it’s twin on the eastern side.
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Separating jambstones between the first and second chambers looking SSW. Most of the chamber/gallery sidestones have been removed.
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Gallery entrance jambs flanked by matching court stones. The gallery itself is ruined with the separating jambstones between the first and second chambers prominent.
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