Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Caherfadda, Co. Clare

Co. Clare |

Megalithic Tombs

Megalithic tomb – wedge tomb, Caherfadda, Co. Clare

At Caherfadda in County Clare, a prehistoric burial monument has been quietly subsiding into the limestone for millennia, its stones so thoroughly collapsed that only two remain upright.

This is a wedge tomb, a type of megalithic structure built during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, characterised by a gallery that narrows and lowers toward one end, typically oriented to face the setting sun in the west. At Caherfadda, the tomb is so diminished that what survives is barely recognisable as such without some prior knowledge of what you are looking at.

The two standing stones that constitute the core of the structure sit roughly two metres apart on flat, low-lying karst, the bare or thinly soiled limestone pavement that defines so much of the Clare landscape. The northern stone, aligned northeast to southwest, reaches just over a metre in height; the southern stone has tilted almost completely onto its side. Scattered nearby are three further stones that may once have belonged to the tomb: two smaller slabs that could represent a side wall which toppled to the southeast, and a larger stone measuring two metres by 1.2 metres that may originally have served as a roofing lintel. The conditional language matters here; the structure is too disturbed for anything firmer than careful inference. The tomb sits at the junction of two field walls and is surrounded by dense vegetation to the east, itself embedded within a much larger multiperiod field system that speaks to centuries, possibly millennia, of continuous human activity in this corner of the Burren.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Megalithic tomb – wedge tomb, Caherfadda, Co. Clare. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement