Wedge Tomb from Mongnacool Lower
The Wedge Tomb of Mongnacool Lower (known locally as Labbanasigha , Irish Leaba na Saidhe , ( German bed of the bitch ) or Fairy House , ( German Feenhaus )) is located on a gentle southern slope of Cushbawn Hill in the townland of Mongnacool Lower ( Irish Mong na Cúl Íochtarach ) northeast of Aughrim in County Wicklow in Ireland . Wedge Tombs, formerly also known as “wedge-shaped gallery graves”, are megalithic structures from the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (2500–2000 BC) and typical of the western half of Ireland .
The northeast-southwest oriented Wedge Tomb has a rectangular chamber 4.55 m long by 1.3 m wide, which is largely intact. It is formed by five side stones in the north, two in the south, one end stone on the eastern end and some rocks. A single, relocated capstone southwest of the entrance has been preserved. A forecourt in the southwest is indicated by a vertical plate with the same orientation as the chamber. There is an outer wall on the west side with a small box-like structure. A raised area of 60 m² around the chamber marks the location of the Cairns . The stones are mostly made of granite and some greywacke from a greywacke outcrop about 20 m to the northeast.
The structure was excavated by Gerrard A. Kinahan in 1879. In his report Kinahan gives very detailed information about measurements and descriptions of the soils at different depths, where mainly charcoal was found in the gallery and in the box-like structure.
Today (2019) the Wedge Tomb is overgrown and not accessible.
See also
literature
- William Copeland Borlase : The Dolmens of Ireland . Volumes I, II & III (1897)
- Gerrard A. Kinahan : Megalithic Structure. Mongnacool Lower, Co. Wicklow In: The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland Fourth Series , Vol. 5, No. 41 (1880), pp. 253-257
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 52 ′ 26 " N , 6 ° 16 ′ 23.7" W.