Cromlech, Marblehill, Co. Galway

Co. Galway |

Megalithic Tombs

Cromlech, Marblehill, Co. Galway

Among the quiet pastures of Marblehill in County Galway, a megalithic gallery tomb sits partly intact after several thousand years, two of its original roofstones still resting, albeit at a slant, across the surviving sidestones.

This kind of monument, sometimes called a gallery tomb or court tomb, is a long chambered structure built from large upright stones during the Neolithic period, typically used for communal burial. What makes this particular example worth attention is not grandeur but detail: the overall gallery runs to ten metres in length, oriented northeast to southwest, and enough of its original architecture remains in position to read the logic of its construction.

A septal stone, a dividing slab set across the interior to partition the space, separates a short entrance portico of roughly 1.4 metres from the main gallery chamber behind it, which extends a further 7.2 metres. Six sidestones survive along the north wall, five along the south, and a backstone closes the eastern end. There is also a single upright stone on the north side that appears to double the gallery wall, and a line of five stones running along the south exterior that may be the remnant of an outer enclosing wall. The whole structure is set within an irregularly shaped mound, across which a number of displaced slabs now lie scattered. The site sits roughly 210 metres south of a separate portal tomb in the same area, making this a landscape that was clearly significant to Neolithic communities over an extended period. The monument was described by O'Flanagan in 1927 and later surveyed in detail by Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin in their 1972 volume on the megalithic tombs of Connacht and the midlands.

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 Cromlech, Marblehill, Co. Galway. 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