Again looking towards the NNE, this time over the ruined remains of the 2- or 3-chambered gallery.
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ryaner
Oriented NNE-SSW, this is from the SSW at the back of the tomb. Most of the stones in the foreground here are unsocketed and broken remains of the original construction.
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South towards Carlingford Lough with the east end of the Cooley peninsula in Co. Louth in the distance.
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No trace of a cairn or court remains, just a long three-chambered gallery, and I guess we should be grateful for that.
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No court exists here now – these are the entrance jambs to the three-chambered gallery.
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Across the chamber looking out through the portals, blinded by the light.
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A metre and a half tall and about 40 metres from the shoreline at the easternmost tip of the Cooley peninsula.
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Over the mound and across the mouth of Carlingford Lough towards the magnificent Mournes.
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Stones of another of the lateral chambers, this at the south-west end of the tomb.
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The stones at the foreground left are part of one of three lateral chambers towards the rear of the tomb, the main remains of which are completely inundated by dense vegetation and are in danger of being lost forever.
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The rear of the tomb, narrowed to about a metre and a half.
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The segmenting jambs between the second chamber and the small gap, before the tomb continues on to the third, narrow and longest of the three chambers.
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The segmenting jambs between the first and second chambers.
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The stones of the tomb are mostly rough-hewn and blocky and could almost be described as ugly.
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The tomb is aligned north-east/south-west with the court at the north-east end. This looks over the monument south-west towards Dundalk Bay.
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The southern side of the heather-covered cairn showing some exposed cairn material.
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Herity reckons this is another passage tomb on Slievenamuck Hill.
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The collapsing backstone of the main chamber leans in towards the viewer, remaining partially upright because it’s tightly caught by the sidestone on the right. The padstone presses down on the backstone and, in turn, is struggling under the weight of the main roofstone, the whole shebang delicately poised and in danger of complete collapse.
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The 2.2 metre long, almost floating roofstone covering the front of the main chamber and the end of the passage. It’s held there magnificently by the weight of the rear roofstone pressing downward, balancing its rear delicately there on a couple of chamber sidestones.
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The rear of the chamber is roofed by a 2.2 metre long slab. It rests on a padstone to the left and the other main chamber roofstone to the right. This delicate balancing act is a neolithic wonder but is probably not original as the heavy stones seem to have shifted with the removal of the surrounding cairn.
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The rear of the tomb, showing, from the top, the chamber roofstone, a padstone resting in the (deliberately carved) shoulder of the eastern, rear sidestone and the backstone that leans inwards and would probably collapse if it wasn’t being held up by the western rear sidestone. The massive rear roofstone leans on the top of the back of the second roofstone, visible here just off centre.
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The front of the tomb, looking over the western kerbstones.
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The small, better preserved, western chamber of this cruciform passage tomb
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The two roofstones to the left of the shot cover the main chamber at Duntryleague. Another roofstone covers the western side-chamber.
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Fantastic tomb with most of its structure still extant – the portico/ante-chamber is impressive on this one.
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In the small hamlet at Lough Gur crossroads – it had its own fógra once upon a time.
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At Lough Gur crossroads, 1.2 metres tall, 1.9 metres long.
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In the next field south of Grange Lios stone circle.
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1.5 metres tall, 2.4 metres long.
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Anomalous stone grouping, down here as a stone row, thought by some to be the possible remains of a court tomb. There are more stones beneath the brambles.
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Looking north-west at this impressive and bulky stone.
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The west face of the stone looks as if it has been worked to give a flattened plane.
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Looking south-east, almost 15 years since I was last here.
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