Boulder-burial, Keamore, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Burial Sites

Boulder-burial, Keamore, Co. Cork

In a pasture on a north-facing slope above Ballin Lough in West Cork, a large flat-topped slab sits balanced on three support stones, exactly as it has for several thousand years.

This is a boulder-burial, a monument type found almost exclusively in the south-west of Ireland, in which a substantial capstone is raised just clear of the ground on a small number of upright supports. Unlike the more familiar portal tombs or wedge tombs, boulder-burials are low, deliberate, and oddly understated; the stone does not reach for the sky so much as press firmly towards the earth.

The Keamore example is a well-preserved specimen. The capstone is sub-rectangular with a flat upper surface, measuring 2.55 metres by 1.55 metres and roughly 0.6 metres thick, a slab of considerable weight and solidity resting on its three support stones with quiet assurance. Boulder-burials belong broadly to the Bronze Age, and while direct evidence of burial deposits is often thin or absent, the form is generally understood to have served a funerary or ceremonial function. Their concentration in Cork and Kerry suggests a distinctly regional tradition, one that developed alongside but separately from the megalithic forms more common elsewhere in Ireland. The positioning of this particular monument, on a slope looking out over a lough, follows a pattern seen at other prehistoric sites where water features and elevated ground seem to have carried some significance for the communities who built there.

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 Boulder-burial, Keamore, Co. Cork. 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