ryaner

Go looking for a barrow and find some rock-art! This earthfast stone with at least 5 cup marks and some modern, sub-christian markings, sits right beside the western barrow on Mullaghash Hill. It’s not recorded in the Arch. Inventory of Co. Louth but the christian markings say that it has been known for quite some time.

If you park at T206618 and follow the winding track up, after 10 minutes of a brisk walk and at roughly south-east on the hill, in amongst the trees on the right is this ‘cairn’. There are some quite large boulders forming a type of kerb. One of these has some sort of marking on the flat side, though I suspect that this is modern. The ‘mound’ of rocks is wedge shaped and looks to have an entrance on the east side. It’s aligned on an east-west axis and my hunch is that this is a possible wedge tomb.

Parked at T206618 and followed the path to the top. The cairn would once have been massive, roughly 20 metres diameter. It’s hard to make out as it has been largely destroyed and mother nature is re-claiming what’s hers. Also, the hill is quite popular with revellers as it’s only 253 metres to the summit and Courtown and Ballymoney holiday sites are close by. The views up and down the coast are really special.

I went looking for the ogham stone down the road from here but got distracted by this beauty. It’s on the crest of a small hillock to the right of the entrance of Castletimon House and is about 1.7 metres tall and quite phallic.

I guess I had a sort of coming of age today 5/9/06 on Seefin. The fragility of the tomb had never been clearer. Standing at the back of the tomb in a full force gale, I realised the slow erosion that the wind alone could cause to the rocks over thousands of year. Add to that rain, snow, frost, hail and occasional strong sunshine and it’s a wonder that so much of it has survived. For how much longer?
Well, the passage seems to have deteriorated further since I was last here 2 months ago. Maybe I hadn’t noticed it before, but there is a gaping hole about a metre and a half deep and the same in height in the eastern wall about 5 metres from the entrance. Cairn material is falling into the passage from this. There’s another, less serious, in the wall opposite. Rain is seeping into the passage itself and puddles are collecting on the floor.
The hole above the chamber shows major human interference. Some clown has used cairn material to bulid a wall around the lip of the hole. They’ve used the covering rocks of the cairn and dug down about a metre into the cairn itself, exposing the underneath.
The western recess shows signs of someone having performed some sort of ritual, with a lot of the roof rubble removed, and some of the ‘newer’ quartz stone from the exposed cairn formed into some sort of ‘altar’.
The slight remains of the firepack on the rock beside the sill/entrance stone that I saw 2 months ago should be well gone by now, but alas no: there’s even more ashes there now.
I headed down off the hill more depressed than angry.

According to the Arch. Inventory of Co. Wicklow, a perviously earthfast boulder. Dug up by the landowner and left in the corner of the field, the carvings are now erroding (a lot less prominent now than when he first dug it up, according to the landowner) and were quite difficult to see in the dappled sunlight caused by the beech tree that stands nearby. The stream below the stone provided water for some viewing relief.
The couple that own the land were very helpful, the man showing me where to go on a large map of his property. There are many other interesting stones on the land on the way to the stone, with at least 3 possible burial mounds/cairns/chambered tombs and a large cup-marked but very erroded eartfast boulder.

I approached this tomb from the farm-track on the north-east side of the hill (Kilmacoliver). You can park at S434293 and head up from there.
It was a very windy day and lots of low cloud obscured the fantastic views that have been described on megalithomania. That said, it’s great to see another passage tomb around here. I could see across to the quarry near Knockroe but couldn’t get a bearing on the tomb itself.
Approaching the site it looks like a stone circle; the kerbing on the south-east side looking more like standing stones than kerbstones.
The circular marking on one of the entrance stones is a bonus. One wonders how much more art there had been here once upon a time. The remains of the chamber say that it was of the cruciform type but there’s only vague hints of a passage left.
Blown away by the wind, I was slightly underwhelmed by the ruins here.

Parked in the large entranceway on the road above the village of Owning (Onainn, as gaeilge). There is an old mill/workhouse at the end of the track here. Walk to the right around the back of the adjoining house and the ruined tomb is in the 2nd field on your left.
It’s quite a sad sight, with the slipped capstone resting on the collapsing uprights. The day I was there (19/08/06) I noticed that some chemical weedkiller had been used on the brambles etc. but the resultant burnt foliage hadn’t been cleared and new growth was in evidence. There’s work going on around the tomb and maybe when the ‘important’ stuff is done, they’ll finish clearing up the tomb.

A ruined portal tomb beside a farm track in this small Kilkenny townland. I parked on the road and walked down the track.
There are 2 uprights remaining standing. I couldn’t tell if these were portals or otherwise as there is so much ivy and growth around. The massive collapsed capstone, about 3 metres square and half a metre thick, lies over the chamber which is inaccessible. The capstone is of an aggregate similar to that at Howth demesne, or of the stones at Bawnfree Hill passage grave nearby. It really is a giant.
A large tree has now grown around one of the supporting orthostats. There is so much additional rubble here that it’s hard to distinguish the original stones from recent additions.
With some time and a little effort, this site could be restored, or at least cleaned up. Cutting down the tree would be a start.

There’s a faint track marked on sheet 62 at the north end of Moylisha hill. To get to it you need to enter the white gate at the edge of the farm buildings and walk up to the fifth gate on your left. The farmer was more than happy to allow me up the track and offered directions.
Over the aforesaid 5th gate, walk through 2 fields in a south-east and upward direction and you will spot the site in the corner of the 2nd field by the pine plantation.
This is one of the best sites I’ve visited in Wicklow. It’s a pity that it’s not better looked after. The OPW sign was in bits on the ground. The tomb itself is now overgrown with bracken and gorse. Those negatives aside, the stones here are very well preserved and the layout very easy to see. It’s a pity that the roofstones are cast aside and left on the ground. A small bit of restoration here would not go amiss.

2/8/06

Re-visited here at the height of the bracken season. After beating back some of the brambles and bracken, the enormity of the capstone is revealed. Somebody had been here about 2 months ago and kindly cut down the tree at the northern end of the tomb. This allows much better views of the stones.

Access was once again along the west side of the DCPCA grounds for about 60 metres, over the barbed wire and across the small field here, and then in through the slightly overgrown gap. The tomb is still hidden until you go through this gap and turn left.

According to the Archaelogical Inventory of County Carlow, item no. 317 at Rathgeran:
Enclosure (possible) Grass-covered bank of earth and stones, including some large slabs, several standing upright, curving W–N (C 52m; est. Diam of circle if complete c. 80m; enclosing summit of hill). 1-9-1987

Archaelogical Inventory of County Carlow.
The Government of Ireland (copyright)
ISBN 0 7076 0324 2

This site really needs to be properly surveyed and studied.

Just a short note to say thank you to the farmer that I met at this monument. The man was almost apologetic for having disturbed me as I took photographs.
Very easy to find in July 06 as the field is now being used as pasture.

This took me ages to find. It stands exactly where it is on Sheet 68, but with 8 foot high bracken all around it’s really hard to orient oneself. A frontal assault, over the gate at the bend in the track and straight ahead may not be your best bet in the summer. Winter or late Autumn may be different, but I went into the field to the west and followed the wall until I could see a gap in the vegetation and approached the tomb from the south.

The cemented sign about this monument being in state care that sits beside this tomb is a sick joke. As usual, nobody cares. Reading Fourwinds comments on megalithomania when I got back home, my suspicions were confirmed – I couldn’t work out what type this tomb is. My instinct said a wedge tomb, but I noticed the evidence of a court too. The tomb is aligned north-west/south-east and I guess that it’s pointing exactly on Mt. Leinster, though with all the vegetation that’s a hard one to call.

North of the tomb, about 15 metres away, is a large area of flat stones with a huge gorsedd-type outcrop. Some of the half-buried stones are very slab-like and may have come from the tomb itself. I cleared some of the moss off these, hoping to encounter some elusive rock-art, but no such luck.

What can I say here? You’d have to be barking to bother just about sums it up.

This is a robbed out cairn, oval-shaped and quite large – possibly 25 metres on the longer diameter – and about 3 metres high, though it’s hard to tell with all the vegetation. The only real reason to come up here is for the spectacular views. On the day I was there, 27/7/06, an intermittently cloudy and brilliantly sunshone scrocher, I could see as far as Cork to the south-west, the sea off Waterford to the south and God knows how far directly west and north-west. The view across the Barrow valley to Brandon hill was worth the trek up here alone.
It is possible to drive up to this ridge to the mass rock at Ballycrinnigan rock, but you may miss the huge quartz boulders beside the forest track.

This is not marked on the OS Sheet 68. I was told about this by local man Pat Kavanagh and brought here by blow-in Dessie Kavanagh. It’s down a country lane at the southern end of the Blackstairs mountains and is a bit of a beaut.

(Slight edit. this is mentioned in the Archaeological inventory of county Carlow).

20/7/07

What at first seems like a chaotic, rubble-strewn disaster, soon reveals itself to be an intriguing jigsaw puzzle of the remains of a passage grave mound. At the end of a farm track and fenced in by barbed wire, access is easy over the farm gate here. I met the former owner of the site (before it was taken over by the board of works) who told me that I had just missed Muiris O’Súillebháin, head of the school of Archaeology at UCD, who is still excavating the mound. In fact the farmer at first thought I was part of O’Súillebháin’s entourage – how flattering, but I suppose it goes to show how little visited this place is.
I don’t know too much about this place except what I’ve read on Megalithomania ( megalithomania.com/show/site/149 ), but I can say that’s its passage grave art is a thrill to behold. Spirals, concentric circles and cup marks are found in abundance in the western passage. One of the southern kerbstones is clearly carved with what Eogan calls serpentiform and Brennan calls wavy lines. The kerbstones are all fairly large and most have collapsed, some back into the mound.
The quartz strewn forecourts are a bit of a puzzle as there is one on the southern side that doesn’t denote the entrance to a passage but could have been a ceremonial area in itself. I’ve tried to find a plan of the site but have failed so far.

Knockroe – Cnoc Rua – Red (sandstone?) Hill

Sad and all that this is, I’m glad I visited it, if only to honour those that took the time to unearth these beauties: in the baking heat of July 06, defiance in the face of indifference. The various quartz encrustations and seams stiil give this wrecked tomb the power to move.

I called at the farmhouse beside where this rock art is marked on sheet 68. The very kind lady told me that I was welcome to look for the stone, but as far as she knows it had been removed to the National Museum. She told me about two women that had spent half a day here looking for the art only to find nowt.

This is a magical place. From the track, across the desolation of the felled part of the plantation, up to the circle in the baking heat, with massive Keadeen Mountain brooding off to the east, and then the first glimpse of the entrance stones.
When was the last time human feet trod here? One month? Two? There were crowns of dead leaves on two of the stones, left behind by those that are into that kind of thing. Bracken hid all the stones but four. Not for long! Nature was taking back the circle and it was with a tinge of guilt that I uncovered the stones.
Eleven remain. Were there 18? 19? 20? I brought up a fist-sized piece of gleaming quartz from the track and left it in the centre of the circle. Why? No reason.

On the road between Crone More and Kilqueeny, on the peak of a nameless hill with clear views to all points of the compass, is marked a barrow on the OS map – a dubious categorisation. What is here is a low henge, 50 to 80 cms high and 30 metres in diameter, with evidence of a ditch on the inside.

There is further evidence on the east arc of a larger, surrounding earthwork about 15 metres out from the very clear henge. South-east, in a clockwise direction are 2 mounds that seem to be the remains of an entrance to this larger ring. Following this imaginary ring in the same direction there is nothing.

South-south-west, the views across to Croghan mountain are gorgeous. 100 metres in the same direction is a quarry, modern but maybe with ancient origins. South-east, down the vale of Avoca, the sea around Arklow glimmers in the sun.

There are five little red dots, all within a kilometre of each other, marked on OS Sheet 62 in the Springfarm/Ballycapple/Ballykean area, 2 kilometres north of Redcross. They are, from north to south – T251863, T246860, T247857, T250855 and T251853.

T251863, T250855 and T251853 I didn’t get to see, the latter two being on land belonging to a stud farm with high walls, and the former being the last I tried to find, giving up after a not very comprehensive search.

T246860, T247857 are in the same field, the former dug in at the edge of the bank surrounding the field, the latter in one of three mounds slung up in a field clearance. T246860 is the most promising but I’ll deal with T247857 first.

The three mounds that are clearly visible from the road contain many interesting stones but none that I could say definitely had rock art. There was one in particular that had what looked like pick marks, but no discernible pattern. Also here was a phallic stone with glans, that may have once stood but is now flat on its back. The suspicion that I had here was that there had once been some sort of tomb or complex in this field, now wrecked, destroyed by the hunger for land. I don’t know this for a fact, but gut instinct said that all was not as it seemed.

Proceeding on up to T246860 this instinct was reinforced. Strung along about 80 metres of the bank were again many interesting stones. Three in particular caught my eye – a larger granite boulder with a facing of the type so familiar from other sites but again, no definite art work; a stone, 1 metre long, with signs of wear by human hands that could be a basin stone or a sharpening stone; and the most definite worked stone and the clearest piece of rock art that I could find. This last was next to the large granite boulder and had a half metre serpent-like line carved in its top.

At last, some rock art… but hold on. Along this bank were many other stones, some quite flat and slab-like and embedded into the ground. And then there was the gaping hole where somebody had recently dug up one of these slabs. Did this contain the elusive rock art of Springfarm and somebody had legged it with it? Judging by the condition of this whole area, I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.

I don’t believe that anybody has been here since Fourwind’s visit in 2004. The bracken was over 2 and a half metres tall and it took about 15 minutes before I could find the tomb. It is exactly where it says it is on the OS map, but I needed some time to orient myself.

I actually bled for this place, cutting my hand during a frenzied attack on said bracken. What was revealed was a lovely little wedge tomb with quite a bit of remaining structure.

There are many other megalithic-like boulders around the tomb and I ventured up to the farm with the rock-art that’s marked on the OS map 200 metres away. The owner, a very nice lady, told me that there was one stone with one cup-mark and she offered to turn off the electric fence to allow me to see it. I declined her kind offer, satisfied with the wedge tomb.

Worth the effort, if only for the quartz capstone. The remains are fenced in by barbed wire in the corner of a field. After a bit of judicious bramble clearance the tomb was revealed. There are some stones at the back of the gallery but I didn’t venture back there as the roofstone rests extremely precariously on the right-hand upright. A pretty little site all the same and worth the bumpy drive up from the main road.

Variously described as a cist, cromlech (OS map) or dolmen, this is one of the easier sites to get to. The track down to the tomb has a locked gate that is easily surmounted and the tomb itself is easily spotted. Just a metre high, the central remains are surrounded by quite a few boulders that could be kerbing. Traces of a mound and a sillstone further complicate any simple description.

I parked mid-way down the long track that leads to the seashore and walked the rest of the way.

Three of the smaller remaining mounds are quite distinguishable but maybe not for too much longer. A remaining piece of the kerbing on the far south-east mound has been damaged by a harvesting machine.
The obvious main mound has a distinguishable passage aligned north-west. The mound immediately to the west of it has merged with it in the undergrowth.

I could see the Cooleys and the Mournes away to the north from here today. Beautiful. The shoreline is covered with the shells of many types of seafood and this abundance could have accounted for a large proportion of the food from any ancient inhabitants.

Asked permission to park in his driveway from the farmer in the house opposite this site. He had no problem.
A word of caution though – the speed limit on the road here is 100 KPH and the cars use every bit of it. Be extremely careful crossing both to, and especially from, the site.

On a rainy day I trudged across the field to this henge for a look. Rarely mentioned, at least in the books that I’ve read, I wasn’t expecting much. Don’t believe what you don’t read! This is well worth the effort.

I can’t begin to estimate the diameter or circumference, but can say with confidence that either of the Knowth or Newgrange mounds would fit inside it with plenty of room to spare. It’s huge! The banks of the henge rise to about 5 metres. There are 2 distinct openings, roughly to the south-west and north-east, but there may be more – there’s a lot of heavy growth at this time of the year. This henge is on private land so you may need to get permission.

I would have liked to stay here longer but the rain was rotten and I was dressed for summer. Definitely one that ought to be on your itinerary when you visit Brú na Boinne. I’ll certainly be back.

The office of public works attend this site during the summer months. There were 2 guides there the day we visited, 6/7/06. People were arriving intermittently but we had Cairn T to ourselves for about 15 minutes. The guide told us that a busload of tourists had been there the day before, so you may have to share if you arrive in the summer.

The satellite tombs have a lot to offer. Most of the tourists are here for Cairn T. Cairns S and U are quite well preserved for open tombs. This hilltop is incredibly beautiful and a wander around is a must. I could stay here all day getting the feel of the place, but most people aren’t that patient. The completely wrecked Cairn W on the eastern downslope is the furthest away from the main cairn and is a haven of tranquility.

This is well worth checking out. Don’t attempt to drive up the track marked on OS sheet 42 – park on the road at the bottom and walk the 200 metres up to the stone. The field had just been harvested the day we were there, 6/7/06.

Easy to see in a field on the right-hand side of the road halfway between Kells and Loughcrew. Like most of the standing stones I’ve seen in the vicinity, they are used as cattle scratching posts, which may account for the leaning condition of the western one. This is a thin slab-like stone, rather like an orthostat, of about 1.4 metres tall (were it upright). It doesn’t seem like it will collapse anytime soon, but then again I’m only 13 stone and don’t have 2/4 stomachs. ;-)
The eastern stone is about the same height, wedge shaped and seems to have had a prominent point at the top that was broken off sometime in the not too distant past.
A mildly diverting stop-off on the way to Loughcrew if you have 10 minutes.

I’m not too sure what this is, but until corrected otherwise I’m putting it down as a burial cist. It’s about 150 metres east and slightly north of here:

themodernantiquarian.com/site/8434

on the down slope towards Glenasmole valley. It’s quite hard to miss so I don’t know why it’s not marked on the OS map. Cursory research on the ‘net last night found no mention of it either.

The alignment of the largest stone, a 3 metre long kerb-like or recumbent, is roughly west-east. What may be a capstone lies at the west end of this, looking over a small water-filled pit that is lined with small boulders. The pit itself is about a metre long north to south. I didn’t feel up to investigating this watery grave today but will return later.

Another possibility is that it’s a small portal tomb, but there is no evidence of another large stone that would have supported the capstone on the south side. To confuse things even further, north of the large recumbent supporting stone there is evidence of a small passage, putting the burial pit outside the ‘tomb’.

The views from here are great. Last night there was low cloud over the city, completely hiding it from view. Were you a stranger you would not have been able to tell that a million and a half people were out there somewhere to the north-east. East of here the significance of Piperstown Hill is apparent, with Mountpelier behind that to the north-east.

Ballymorefinn – Baile Mór Finn – The big town of Finn (Finn McCumhaill {McCool}).

I came across this on a previous trip back down from Seahan Hill and was curious. The camera battery was dying a rapid death and the light was fading fast so I split and said I’d return. I approached it from one of the forest tracks on the left of the Ballinascorney to Kilbride rifle range road. It’s the one with the largest entrance and has a forestry barrier. Walk along this track for about a mile (you will start to descend after about 300 yards – don’t worry, keep going). At the end of the track there is another steep track on your right hand side (due east). Head up here and make sure you check out the quartz encrusted boulder at the top. You’ll meet another track crossing here. Turn right and walk for another 100 metres or so and bam, there it is, just inside the tree-line.

How can I describe this? Best thing is to look at the shots. However, if you’re up here, check out the views to the east and north, just over the fence and 100 metres into the heather. The day I was there, low cloud hung over the city to the north and all the way up Glenasmole valley. Beautiful.

Another 123 metres higher, and about a mile further south up the track you were on, is Seahan Hill, which you’ll want to visit.

15/6/06

This was my third visit to Seefin Hill in as many months and was quite an eye-opener. Should you happen this way, I would urge you to allow yourself at least half a day here. There is much to see on Seefin, and not just the main tomb, though your time would not be wasted if you devoted all of it to this relatively well-preserved monument.

On this day I gave myself more time than usual to explore some of the curious sites on the western ascent. There are many and various rock outcrops here. Sorting through them, cataloging them and understanding them would take more time and more expertise than I have. However, I am convinced that there are many traces of human activity here, whether they be neolithic, bronze age or more modern. It’s actually quite a diverting way to pass what can be a sometimes strenuous climb.

Arriving at the tomb itself is always a relief. That such an example of this type of grave is perched here, high up and far from the madding crowd, brings a joy and peace to the spirit. I’ve met people the three times I’ve been up here but none of them were very interested in the significance of the site. This time, however, I came across some activity that left me more than a bit perturbed. Someone had taken the trouble to bring a ready-made fire pack up with them and had used the sill stone as their fire base. Desecration may be too heavy a word, but that they didn’t bother to clean up after them was annoying.

This got me to thinking about preservation and conservation of the tomb. The access through the portal stones is quite difficult. I’m not of that heavy a build, but I still need to almost lie down and wriggle head first through the wider gap at the ground level. It seems that most if not all prefer to enter through the collapsed roof of the chamber. This is further degrading the perilous condition of this area and it seems that as time goes by more and more of the upper cairn material is falling in here. (I’m always aware when talking about this that I would hate to see some sort of regimen put in place that limits access to this site. The balance between conservation and access is a frustrating one to achieve. Besides, part of the beauty of this site is the free and easy access and the possibility of having a passage tomb in relatively good condition all to yourself.)

On entering through the portal stones you may experience a slight claustrophobia. The passage is quite narrow with some of the orthostats tilting inwards. Check out the base of the third one on your right for the faint diamond/lozenge carving. I’ve never brought a torch, relying on the camera flash to reveal glimpses of the structure of the passage (this adds to the slow revelation of the tomb to me. You may prefer the torch method. I live just a ten minute drive from the base of the mountain.) Limited to my method of survey I’ve not had much joy in studying the roof of the passage, but camera shots have revealed an intricate series of stones. I read somewhere recently that there is a christian cross carved on one of the roofstones but haven’t felt the need to look for it.

My favourite part of the tomb is on the left of the entrance to the chamber. The colours of the corballed stones here, revealed by the camera flash, are beautiful. It’s quite difficult to manouevere here as this is where the roof rubble begins. I’ve lain down on my back and wriggled around on my front in a bid to get better shots here. The pile of rubble gets steeper as you make your way into the centre of the chamber. Two of the recesses are visible but contain quite a bit of rubble. Moss covers a lot of the walls in both. You could, were you agile enough, sidle your way down into the recesses. The worn beauty of the roof stones here is similar to that of the chamber entrance. I’ve thought that I’d love to see this cleared out to check for carvings.

Surveying the lips of the roof hole it’s easy to see the continuing degradation of the tomb. At times the whole structure seems on the verge of collapse. I’ve tried to not use this as an entrance or exit but it’s too tempting. Around the south-eastern edge of the tomb you can see the original kerbstones, about 2 metres away from the cairn pile. These curve back into the cairn itself on the south side. From over the hole in the roof, aligning yourself with the passage by sighting on the entrance, the views across to Seahan are great. From this position, sister Seefingan is away to your right.

Seefin is my favourite place bar none on my new megalithic odyssey. However, from my last experiences here I would be quite a bit worried about the integrity of the site. I wonder when the last time an officer from the Office of Public Works was up here.

You could approach Seefingan from an alternative route to Seefin, but why would you want to? Seefin Hill ought to be your first stop if you’re heading this way. From Seefin Hill passage tomb the distance across to the cairn on Seefingan looks deceptively short. Don’t be fooled: it’s quite a hike. And whereas the ascent to Seefin is relatively dry, the dip and the ascent across to Seefingan was boggy the day I was there on the last day of May 2006.

My anticipation at what I was going to encounter on Seefingan was heightened as I approached and saw the cairn up close for the first time. It’s slightly larger that the tomb on Seefin and I thought that there must be a passage and a chamber, but sadly no, there isn’t. It’s still impressive, with amazing views across the city towards Howth. So what was it’s purpose? (Pure speculation warning) Sitting there atop the hill it seemed to mirror Howth peninsula way in the distance, as if its builders were paying homage. Others have noticed the significance of Howth before and in my travels around some of the other sites near here I have tended to agree.

I had a very short time up here as light was fading fast and I didn’t want to be caught heading down the mountain in the dark. There is an indentation on the east side of the cairn that looks like it could have been a passage entrance, though I guess this is just wishful thinking. There are quite a few quartz boulders peppered about the cairn surface and below. Overall, a bit of a disappointment, especially after Seefin, but worth the extra slog nonetheless.

There are 3 hills around here with megalithic significance. I met some hill-walkers and they were on a tour of the 3: Seahan (648 metres), Seefingan (724 m) and Seefin (621m). If you had an afternoon and were feeling energetic, this could be an ideal way to work off some pounds. (If you start at Seahan you would need to take in Corrig mountain (618 m) on your way across to Seefingan.)