Anomalous stone group, Kilcashel, Co. Wicklow

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Stone Monuments

Anomalous stone group, Kilcashel, Co. Wicklow

On a north-facing slope in County Wicklow, tucked within a copse of conifers a few metres above a farm track, a group of large standing stones arranges itself into something that looks, almost, like a prehistoric tomb.

Almost, but not quite. That ambiguity is precisely what makes it interesting.

The feature consists of four upright stones, or orthostats, positioned to form a rough chamber roughly 4.85 metres long. In plan it is wedge-shaped, wider at the east end (1.55 metres) and narrowing to 0.85 metres at the west, an arrangement that closely resembles the layout of a wedge tomb, a type of megalithic burial monument found across Ireland and typically dating to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. The two northern stones are the more convincing uprights; the two on the southern side lean markedly inward and may never have stood fully erect. A further low stone, set at a transverse angle about two metres to the west, adds to the puzzle without resolving it. What draws particular attention are four V-shaped indentations cut into the upper interior edges of the northern stones. Their profiles are rounded at the base and their edges are not crisp, suggesting they were not made with metal tools. Whether they are deliberate carvings, the result of some earlier working of the stone, or simply the product of natural weathering is unknown. The ground inside the chamber sits lower than the surrounding surface, and a small spoil heap just to the north hints at digging at some point. Other stones on the same hillside may be deliberately placed, or they may be the remnants of quarrying activity; it is genuinely difficult to tell one from the other.

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