dolmens ireland

A Dolmen with three stones still supporting a capstone. A fourth stone which originally supported the capstone lees nearby....

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....

The Ballylumford Dolmen is better known to locals as the Druid's Altar and is a dolmen typical of many found in Ulster and throughout Ireland. Larne used to be called "the port of the Standing Stones" by the Romans, no doubt because of the presence of dolmens like this one and the numberous standing stones and boundary marker stones which can still be seen across the borough. The dolmen, under which historical artifacts have been recovered by archaeologists, would appear to have stood over a b...

One of a small group of portal tombs which have two capstones 9others include Knockeen in Waterford, Kilmogue in Kilkenny and the Kempe Stones in Down). Like many 'dolmens' it stands in a hollow, so that the visitor's initial view of it is from above. The main capstone is 9 feet long and rests at the front on the single remaining portal stone, 6 feet high, on which a small Christian cross has been inscribed, apparently recently. The lower capstone is supported on the chamber uprights and, as i...

This dramatic granite dolmen consists of three comparatively thin and widely spaced uprights. They carry a large and seemingly almost weightless capstone which - appropriately enough for a Stone Age burial place - looks rather like a coffin on stilts. It is one of Ireland's most frequently illustrated dolmens....

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....

Its largest stone is the enormous capstone which has fallen sideways, revealing the megalithic chamber it once covered, in which a cremation urn and a flint arrowhead were found in 1834. Stones standing independently at the eastern side of the monument suggest that it may once have had a forecourt facade like a court-tomb....

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...

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...

This dolmen has two portal stones supporting a massive granite capstone which is estimated to weigh about 35 tons. The tomb, built around 3000-2500 B.C., stands near the northern end of a long rectangular stone cairn. Excavations long ago apparently uncovered bone, Neolithic pottery and flint....