Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Boolyglass, Co. Kilkenny
Co. Kilkenny |
Megalithic Tombs
On the northern slope of Carricktriss hill in County Kilkenny, a Neolithic wedge tomb has been quietly absorbed into the fabric of a working farm.
Part of its structure now forms a section of a fence running along a farm lane, with one displaced stone visibly protruding through the boundary. The arrangement gives the monument an oddly divided character, caught between its prehistoric origins and centuries of agricultural use.
Wedge tombs are among the most common megalithic tomb types in Ireland, generally consisting of a roofed gallery that narrows toward one end, typically oriented to the west or south-west, and dating broadly to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The Boolyglass example follows this pattern, with a gallery of roughly 5.1 metres opening to the west-north-west. Its north side is formed by three upright stones, its south by four, and the eastern end is closed by a backstone. One roofstone survives in place at that eastern end, resting partly on a small internal orthostat whose exact purpose remains unclear. A second roofstone has slipped and now lies along the south gallery wall. Beyond the backstone, two further uprights suggest the presence of a short end chamber, roughly 0.7 metres long and open to the east, though its south stone has shifted and leans markedly inward. Faint traces of the original covering mound are still visible to the north. Around 1850, a local writer named Fogarty noted that the tomb had recently been dug by what he called "gold dreamers", treasure-hunters apparently motivated by folklore. They reportedly found black earth, charcoal, and burned bones, which would be consistent with the cremation deposits commonly associated with megalithic burials of this period.
The monument sits in a shallow hollow on the broad shoulder of the hillside, and modern field clearance has been dumped against the fence at its south-eastern end, adding another layer of accumulated interference. The stones that remain upright do so at angles shaped as much by centuries of land management as by their original placement.