Megalithic tomb - wedge tomb, Aughinish, Co. Clare
Co. Clare |
Megalithic Tombs
On the western shore of Aughinish island in County Clare, a prehistoric tomb sits so quietly embedded in its surroundings that it went unconfirmed in official records for years.
A later field wall has grown into its southern side, effectively borrowing the ancient stonework as one of its own courses, and the tomb is further obscured by a gentle westward slope that keeps it out of easy sightlines. It was recorded as an unlocated possible megalithic structure as recently as 1992, and by 1996 had dropped out of the relevant monument record entirely.
What survives is a small wedge tomb, a type of megalithic burial monument built during the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, typically narrowing from one end to the other and usually oriented to face west or south-west. This one is no exception in its orientation, opening to the west toward the shore. Its off-kilter rectangular capstone measures roughly 1.85 metres east to west and 1.5 metres wide, and it rests on two smaller supporting flagstones to the east and north, with the later field wall propping the southern side. Small packing-stones are still visible at the base of the northern sidestone, placed there in prehistory to stabilise the uprights. The tops of the eastern backstone and the northern sidestone show signs of dressing, that is, deliberate shaping by tool, a detail that links this tomb to a broader tradition of careful stonework seen across other wedge tombs in the Burren. The interior has been partially filled over time with small stones cleared from the surrounding field, a mundane agricultural act that has nonetheless helped protect the structure's lower courses.