Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Clogher By.), Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Megalithic Tombs
On a small levelled shelf cut into the steeply sloping southern face of Carrigarierk hill in County Cork, a ruined megalithic tomb sits quietly within a mound of irregular outline.
What remains is modest but legible: a short wedge-shaped gallery, just 2.4 metres long, wider at its western end and narrowing toward the east, the classic form of what archaeologists call a wedge tomb.
Wedge tombs are the most numerous megalithic tomb type in Ireland, built broadly during the late Neolithic and into the Early Bronze Age, typically oriented with their wider, higher end facing west or south-west, possibly in alignment with the setting sun. The Clogher example follows this east-west axis. Three stones form each of the north and south sides of the gallery, and a single outer-wall stone still survives to the south, hinting at a more elaborate kerbed or walled structure that once enclosed the whole. Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin catalogued it in their 1982 survey of megalithic tombs across Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Tipperary, recording its dimensions and ruinous state with the matter-of-fact precision that characterises their four-volume work. At just 2.4 metres in length, this is a notably small example of the type, its proportions suggesting either a modest original construction or considerable loss of fabric over the millennia.