Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Knockcurraghbola Commons, Co. Tipperary

Co. Tipperary |

Megalithic Tombs

Megalithic tomb – wedge tomb, Knockcurraghbola Commons, Co. Tipperary

On a south-facing slope at Knockcurraghbola Commons in County Tipperary, a megalithic tomb survives in a state that demands a certain imaginative effort from the viewer.

What remains above ground amounts to a handful of standing stones: a septal stone at the west-south-west end, two sidestones along the more southerly wall of the burial chamber, and a single stone from the opposite side. A small, low mound still clings to the southern edge of the chamber, and a loosely set stone a little further east may or may not belong to the original structure. Several other displaced stones scattered around the site resist easy interpretation.

This is a wedge tomb, the most numerous class of megalithic monument in Ireland, typically dating to the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Wedge tombs are named for the characteristic shape of their galleries, which taper in both height and width from front to back, and they were used for communal burial, sometimes over extended periods. What gives this particular site an added layer of interest is its relationship to a neighbouring monument. Another wedge tomb, recorded separately, lies just 200 metres to the west on the same sloping ground. The proximity of two such tombs on a shared south-facing hillside is unusual, and the relationship between them remains unclear. The site was documented by Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin in their Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland, published in 1982, which remains a foundational reference for monuments of this type across Tipperary and beyond.

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