Megalithic tomb - passage tomb, Bremore, Co. Dublin

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Megalithic Tombs

Megalithic tomb – passage tomb, Bremore, Co. Dublin

In a flat tillage field close to the shoreline of north County Dublin, a low circular mound sits so inconspicuously in the agricultural landscape that it could easily be dismissed as a natural feature.

It is, in fact, a passage tomb, the kind of megalithic burial monument, typically consisting of a stone-lined corridor leading to a chamber, covered by a cairn or earthen mound, that was constructed in Ireland during the Neolithic period. This particular example is catalogued as Mound II of the Bremore cemetery, meaning it belongs to a group of monuments rather than standing in isolation, which makes the ordinariness of its surroundings all the more quietly arresting.

The mound measures no more than twelve metres across and reaches a height of just 0.7 metres, so it sits close to the ground rather than commanding any kind of elevated view. Kerbstones, the upright stones that would once have defined the outer edge of the mound, were still visible on the northern and southern sides as recently as the 1970s, though the site has clearly suffered disturbance over time. The disturbed core material, noted by Michael Herity in 1974, consists of water-rolled pebbles, which suggests the cairn material may have been sourced from the nearby shore. A geophysical survey carried out in 2006 under licence 06R0050 by Gimson failed to return any specific structural detail from within the mound, leaving its interior arrangement essentially unknown. The site has also been the subject of a constraint study by Margaret Gowen and Company Ltd, prepared in advance of a proposed port development in the area, and fieldwalking and lithic analysis were undertaken for an MA study by Collins in 2007. The monument is protected under a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014.

The site lies in working agricultural land near the shoreline, so access requires some awareness of the farming context. Because the mound is so low and the field so level, there is little to orientate the eye; looking for any remaining kerbstone outlines on the northern or southern edges is the most likely way of reading the monument's footprint on the ground. The coastal proximity is worth bearing in mind as a clue to understanding the site, given that the pebble material in the core appears to have come from the shoreline rather than any inland source.

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