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Gleninagh North

ryaner
ryaner Aug 3, 2020

Most people visit Gleninagh for the tower house and the storm beach. Down the track off the Ballyvaughan to Black Head road and there’s also a holy well, some fulachtaí fia, the remains of a bawn and a ‘house of indeterminate age’.

The very scant remains of a wedge tomb are what we’re looking for. Beyond the tower house, towards the storm beach, there are two parallel, reasonably thick slabs embedded in the ground, aligned roughly north-south. They’re not much and it’s surprising that they’re still here, given the needs of the construction of the tower house, but here they are. Maybe it was superstition that stopped its complete destruction.

The usual summer growth stopped me from investigating further – there may be more stones there. The two visible sidestones are heavily embedded in the turf. The storm beach is really rather magnificent. If you’re passing, maybe heading to Fanore or Moher, you could spend a while here and be well rewarded.

Aughinish

ryaner
ryaner Aug 2, 2020

Aughinish (Eachinis) is a destination, a small Clare island, connected by a causeway to the neighbouring county of Galway. There’s nowhere to go after here, save the wide expanse of Galway Bay, and after that the good ole US of A. It’s about 2 kilometres east to west and a little over a kilometre north to south.

A road that runs the length of the island morphs into a track about half way along in a tiny hamlet. The track terminates at a small cliff on the western end of the island, a rubble beach about 50 feet below. There is a slight path along the top of the cliff. Follow this north to the fifth field along. The tomb is 60 metres back into this field, along the north side of the wall.

The remains are scant, but this is a very Burren-like wedge tomb. The northern sidestone, the backstone and the roofstone are definitely there. The southern sidestone could still be there but I couldn’t see for all the summer growth. The tilt of the roofstone says that maybe it’s gone.

I wondered how Aughinish wedge tomb has survived. The clouds raced by and the sun occasionally broke through. The view west towards Black Head was beautiful. I could while away a while here but I had bigger fish to fry, and impatient teenagers back at the car. Like I said, not on the way anywhere and all the better for that.

Miscellaneous

Maudlings
Standing Stone / Menhir
ryaner
ryaner Jul 30, 2020

From archaelogy.ie:

Class: Standing stone

Townland: MAUDLINGS

Scheduled for inclusion in the next revision of the RMP: Yes

Description: On a gentle E-facing pasture slope, c. 35m W of the N-flowing Morell River. A tall, almost square, granite stone (H 1.62m; L 0.29m; Wth 0.26m) is orientated on a NE-SW axis. A small perforation pierces the top of the stone NW-SE. Believed locally to be a scratching post, but exhibits no obvious signs of wear.

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 10 June 2011

Image of Dowth I (Passage Grave) by ryaner

Dowth I

Passage Grave

The pile of cairn rubble in the foreground seems to have been gathered from a hole that’s out of shot here, or from the collapsing rim of the crater. It looks like someone is saving them for use in a misguided circle construction.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jul 27, 2020
Image of Dowth I (Passage Grave) by ryaner

Dowth I

Passage Grave

On the southern arc of the cairn looking north over the gouge that opens to the west. The northern arc looks to be collapsing, mainly caused by, seemingly, erosion from sheep.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jul 27, 2020