Megalithic tomb, Skeagarvey, Co. Monaghan

Co. Monaghan |

Megalithic Tombs

Megalithic tomb, Skeagarvey, Co. Monaghan

On top of a broad hill in Skeagarvey, County Monaghan, a small arrangement of ancient stones sits in a quiet state of ambiguity.

The structure has never been formally classified, which is unusual in itself; most megalithic monuments in Ireland, however eroded or fragmentary, can eventually be assigned to a recognised type. This one resists that tidiness.

What survives is a gallery roughly two and a half metres long, aligned on a north-north-west to south-south-east axis. Two stones form the eastern side of the passage, and a large stone closes the southern end as a back stone. A low stone set at right angles to the eastern side of the gallery may be a buttress, a supporting element used to stabilise the chamber wall, though its precise function is uncertain. The working assessment is that this is probably a wedge tomb, a type of megalithic monument built during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, typically characterised by a tapering gallery that is wider and higher at one end than the other, and often oriented with the broader end facing broadly west or south-west. The orientation here does not follow that convention precisely, which may partly explain why the classification remains open.

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