dolmens ireland

A portal dolmen consisting of four standing stones supporting two capstones. It has been unfortunately reconstructed with the aid of cement....

A portal dolmen with a chamber of six upright stones (the two in front forming a porch), and all covered by one large capstone....

A very fine portal dolmen with a rectangular chamber roofed by two capstones - one partly supporting the other. The two front side stones project so as to form a porch....

Improbable though it may seem, this interesting megalithic tomb was lived in by a family in the nineteenth century, a purpose to which its large interior was suited and possibly to some extent modified. Gaps between the side-stones were windproofed with turf and mud, and no doubt the resulting 'house' was as snug as some of the tiny cabins occupied around the time of the Great Famine. The presence of a horse in the photograph is a reminder too that these ancient structures not infrequently serv...

A splendid 'tripod-dolmen', 12 feet in height, standing at the edge of a field near a ruined gallery-tomb. It is reached by a signposted path from the grounds of Ballymascanlon Hotel. It has long been called 'The Giant's Load' since, from a certain viewpoint, it resembles a huge figure bowed under the weight of a heavy burden - in this case a rounded granite capstone weighing in excess of 30 tons. This well known landmark has often been illustrated. As early as 1742 an engraving of it appear...

A very fine example of a Portal Dolmen in the grounds of the Ballymascanlon Hotel, and with a capstone of about 40 tons supported by three legs. Legend says that a wish will be granted to those who can throw a pebble on to the top of the capstone so that it stays there. In the same field is a wedge-tomb....

A field monument of huge proportions, the capstone is believed to be the largest in Europe. The location, setting and purpose of this Megalithic structure have been the subject of conjecture for centuries. Most likely it marks the burial place of a local king of long ago but has been invested with a rich overylay of myth and legend....

Although partly collapsed on its supports and overgrown with bracken and scrub, this is nonetheless a noble megalith.

when complete it would have stood 15 feet high at the chamber entrance, where there now survives only the broken portion of one of the great portal stones, against which the massy capstone leans, its other end resting on the ground. A second portal stone nearly 15 feet long, lies fallen alongside.

Borlase believed this to be a distinct class of tomb - an...

Located in Galway Bay in the West of Ireland lie the Aran Islands. Islands so rich in culture, history and heritage they have to be seen to be believed.
The islands unique landscape is composed of limestone rock, big large boulders, considerable stretches of cliffs and very clean beaches. There are three islands in total: Inis Mór (big island), Inis Meáin (middle island) and Inis Oírr (eastern island). Gaelic is the native language spoken here.
It is the islands isolation tha...

Sited typically near a stream, the outstanding feature of this megalith is the dolmen of three uprights supporting a capstone (re-erected after an excavation in 1965) and closed by the (also reinstated) portal closing stone. The dolmen stands at the southern end of a 90ft long rectangular cairn of stones, at the other end of which was an apparently contemporary burial cist (no longer visible). No trace of burials was found, but Neolithic pottery was recovered in some quantity....