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Folklore

The Stone Of The Tree
Standing Stone / Menhir

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

Miscellaneous

Fenagh Beg 3
Passage Grave

© 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.

Image of Cleighran More (Court Tomb) by ryaner

Cleighran More

Court Tomb

The front two chambers – the stone in the foreground is the remaining segmenting jambstone that divides the gallery between the second and third chambers.

Image credit: ryaner
Image of Cleighran More (Court Tomb) by ryaner

Cleighran More

Court Tomb

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.

Image credit: ryaner

Link

Drumanagh
Promontory Fort
Digging Drumanagh

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.