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Tag Archives: court tomb
Deerpark Court Tomb
Deerpark Court Tomb is unlike most other types of court tomb in Ireland in that it has three galleries leading off from its large central court. It has a single gallery at the Western end of the court and two smaller galleries located side by side at the opposite end. Of the three galleries, only one still has a lintel over its entrance, although it has a large crack running through it. The lintels have fallen off the entrances of the other two galleries. As with the Creevykeel Court Tomb there is no remaining cairn over the galleries.
Until quite recently the tomb was surrounded by trees but these have been felled and there are now fantastic views from the tomb to Knocknarea, Lough Gill and of the surrounding countryside. A 3.5 km looping walking trail leads past the tomb and through the woodland back to the car park.
Creevykeel Court Tomb
This megalithic monument located at Creevykeel, just North of the village of Cliffoney is said to be one of the best examples of a court tomb in Ireland. It’s certainly one of the easiest to gain access to, situated just a few meters off the main Sligo to Bundoran road.
The court tomb was excavated in the 1930′s and has since been partially reconstructed. It consists of a large court, which leads to the entrance of the gallery. The gallery consists of two chambers. These were originally covered by a corbelled roof. A long cairn surounds the end of the tomb. Interestingly, the site does not seem to have been used very frequently for burials as only a four burial pits containing cremated remains were found, two in each chamber. It’s possible the site was also used for some other unkown ceremonial purposes.
The court may have originally been semi circular in shape and then at some later stage made into a full enclosed oval shaped court as is seen today. The rear of the tomb contains another three chambers that were built into the cairn. No evidence of burials was found in these chambers. Within the court is a small round structure added in medieval times which was believed to be used for iron smelting.
In local foklore the tomb was sometimes known as a “giants grave” which was a name given by people to many megalitic tombs around Ireland and still used as a term to refer to some of those tombs today.