Antynanum:
Court-tomb and Standing-stones
D 256 110
Sheet
9
The
court-tomb is perhaps the longest in all Ireland, being a
massive tapering cairn of boulders up to 2 metres high and 70
metres long. Two chambers of a gallery can be discerned behind
the forecourt (over 12 metres wide) at the E end. This is formed
by fourteen upright slabs and one fallen slab - none of them
tall. One has a cup-mark reminiscent of the N court of the tomb
at Ballywholan
(Tyrone). Near the W end inserted into the N side is a wrecked
portal-tomb with a half-door stone, which seems to have had
a massive, gabled-capstone sitting on another. In front of this
are the remains of a little cairn. Parallel with and several
metres beyond the N kerb is a long line of stones. The surrounding
area has several such, while at the top of the hill is a very
large, roughly-triangular enclosure with bank and external ditch,
with evidence of several structures within.
~ About
500 metres WNW (D 252 112) is a good male-and-female pair of
basalt stones visible from the by-road to the S. One of them
is 'riddled with cracks'. A stone kist was discovered in the
same field.
- 700
metres SE of the tomb in the same townland (D 260 104, in a
rushy field and visible from a track) is another charming pair
of standing-stones, known as 'The Maidens'.
~
1.5 km SW in Tamybuck (D 246 099), S of a by-road, is
a massive wedge-tomb somewhat eroded and tumbled on the S side
by quarrying, but still retaining a large part of its cairn.
The gallery-orthostats and some outer walling are visible, but
the roofstones have either been removed or slid aside.
~
Just over 2 km WNW is Ticloy "Stone House".
Altagore:
Stone fort
D
248 348
Sheet
5
Picturesquely
visible 300 metres W of the coast road from Cushendun to Ballycastle
via Torr Head, about 2 km N of Cushendun, the wall of the cashel
(derived from the same Latin word as castle) survives
to a height of 3 metres, and the internal diameter is 15 metres.
There are traces of steps leading up to remains of a terrace.
~ 1.5
km SW at the entrance to a caravan-site in Cushendun is a large
semi-elliptical slab which is one of a former pair of standing-stones
- now surrounded by ornamental plants.
~ 1.5 km S in Ballycleagh (D 248 334), close to a bungalow
overlooking Cushendun Bay, two massive stones stand 5.2 metres
apart, which may represent male and female. The stone nearest
the laneway is 1.5 metres square.
click
for more
~ 8 km SSW in Lubitavish
(D 213 285) is the once well-signposted "Ossian's Grave",
a small court-tomb with a three-chambered gallery about 3.5
metres long, near which is a little cairn of stones marking
the grave of John Hewitt, one of the dullest of the generations
of dull poets writing in English since Yeats and Stevens.
~
650 metres SW in Cloughs is a small passage-tomb ("Cloghancor")
whose capstone has been tipped into what was the original
entrance, revealing the five supporting stones. From it are
splendid views to Cushendall Bay to the E, while to the SW
Tievebulliagh is dramatically prominent.
~ 10
km SSW at Tievebulliagh (D 193 268) is a neolithic
axe-factory. Three small outcrops of porcellanite can be seen
on the higher SE slope of this conspicuous peak. Rejects,
flakes and part-finished axe-heads may still be found round
about and on the hilltop - but no finished ones. It was here
that the axe-heads were roughed out before being finished
at the seashore at Whitepark Bay, and exported all over the
British Isles. The cairn on top of Tievebulliagh is probably
of Bronze Age date.
3.5
km ESE of Tievebulliagh on the other side of Glenballyemon
is the prominent promontory-fort of Lurigethan, which
overlooks the village of Glenariff.
~ 5.2 km WNW are Ballyvennaght
portal-tombs.
Ballygilbert:
Standing-stone
D
334 104
Sheet
9
click
the thumbnail for a hi-res picture
Near the top of Ballygilbert
Hill (300 metres), and offering fine views over the North Channel
to Scotland, close to the "Ulster Way" footpath, this small
(1.5 metres high) but well-sited Cloughogan is remarkable
for its unmistakeably phallic
form. It is, however, nearly an hour's walk from the
car-park/viewpoint to the S.
~ 750 metres NE, in
Lisnahay South (D 341 108, not marked on the map) is
a well preserved court tomb, whose north-facing court leads
into a two-chambered gallery, with two subsidiary chambers on
either side of the S end.
~ 1.3
km SE, in Ballygawn (D 344 096, marked Chambered Grave
) is "Cloghogan", a small passage-tomb - similar to
the one at Ballylumford some 11 km SE - very close to
a ruined house, and once used as a pig-sty. There are solution
pits on the front of the (slipped and cracked) capstone, at
least one of which seems to have been enhanced by human hand.
The orthostats seem to have been chosen for the interesting
grooves on the internal faces.
~
1.8 km WNW is Gowkstown (or Goakstown) wedge-tomb.
[~ 3.3 km SE in Ballyhackett (D 348 068)
is a good example of a Viking-period souterrain
set at the base of a steep rock face. It is now entered from
the W side of a field wall, but the original entrance is more
likely to have been on the E side of the wall. The linear
arrangement of passages in the form of an F, and the frequent
occurrence of creeps (very low passages), indicate that the
main function of the souterrain was refuge and defence rather
than storage. The total length is about 80 metres, with a
total of six simple creeps as well as a 'drop-hole' creep.
This type of monument is neither prehistoric nor megalithic,
but is nonetheless included here. Another souterrain is listed
in county Down under
Drumena.]
~ 6 km
due S (D 337 043), clearly visible to the E of a by-road on
White Brae in Killyglen, is a fine knobbly sandstone
standing-stone 2 metres high, from which there are fine views
S to the beautiful contours of Agnew's Hill, and to the port
of Larne.
~
1 km NW of the car-park and viewpoint, on a little knoll at
D 323 080 in Dunteige is a roofless wedge-tomb whose
rear end has been badly damaged, but which retains its double
walling. To the right of the split portico at the front is
a single façade stone, and behind the portico is a
septal slab that blocks only one side of the entrance to the
gallery, which is aligned roughly WSW towards the volcanic
plug of Slemish.
100
metres N of Dunteige wedge-tomb is a boulder carved with a
Clonmacnois-style Latin cross with expanded ends. The boulder
was used as a Mass Rock for clandestine Catholic worship
during Penal Times (1798-1830).
Ballylumford:
Passage-tomb ?
D 431 016
Sheet 9
click
for another photo
Near the NW tip of the peninsula of Islandmagee, near to a power-station
and to Larne across the strait (by passenger ferry) this megalith
squats in front of a house beside the B.90 road. It is known
as "Ballylumford Dolmen", but is more likely to be
the remains of a passage-less passage-tomb or even a megalithic
kist than a portal-tomb. Its situation makes it not really worth
a visit unless you are already near it.
An engraving of the tomb in 1832, looking
across the narrows to Larne Castle.
~
11 km WSW, between the Upper and Lower Ballyboley roads in
Ballyboley (J 328 973), in an isolated thicket of thorn
and holly 200 metres NW of the high-tension pylon to the SW
of the famhouse at the top of the lane, are the remains of a
court-tomb which retains two of its roof-stones. The front one
is a fine gabled stone sitting on the orthostats immediately
behind the entrance-jambs. A few court-stones survive on the
E side, the outermost set into the edge of a platform of cairn
material. There is a kist at the S end. The tomb was, interestingly,
known as The (L)ebby within living memory -from Irish
'leaba', meaning 'bed', referring to the legend of Diarmuid
and Gráinne. It has been wrongly transcribed as 'The
Abbey' by illiterate antiquarians, just as the tomb has been
wrongly identified as 'Carndoo'.
click
for more
200
metres N is a standing-stone known as "The King's Stone",
2.5 metres high, incorporated into a field-dyke, while around
180 metres SW is - or was - part of the court of Carndoo
(= Carn Dúbh or 'The Black Cairn'), another court-tomb.
It was here that a small inscribed stone with hatched engravings
(cf Ballyrenan, Tyrone) was found in the mid-19th century.
~ Just
over 10 km SW, almost on the S edge of sheet 9 (J 350 952),
in Ballygowan, is a handsome anthropomorphic monolith
of sandstone, 1.4 metres high, incorporated into a field-wall
on the S side of a track.
1.5 km further WSW in Castletown (J 335 943 near the
top edge of Sheet 15) is the massive "Buchanan's Stone",
2.2 metres high, on the crest of a ridge affording wide views.
It is somewhat difficult to reach from the E side, due to unusually
efficient fencing, locked gates and brambles, but is slightly
easier to get to from the road to the W leading to Ballynure.
Ballymacaldrack:
Court-tomb
D
021 183
Sheet
8
Situated 1.2 km SSE
of Dunloy, Doey's Cairn has a fine and almost intact
forecourt post-dating the rest of the sepulchre by some 500
years and thus, perhaps, providing some evidence for the gradual
development of court-tombs in Ireland. Between the large orthostats
of the court, small filling-stones may be seen. The egg-shaped
cairn is bounded by a kerb of low boulders, and has a single
chamber facing, unusually, SW. Beyond the chamber is a passage
which was used as a cremation chamber: the burnt bones of at
least 5 adults were placed in one of 3 pits dug in the otherwise
paved floor.
click
for more
~ 4.4 km WSW is 'The
Broad Stone' at Craigs.
~ Just over 5 km SE,
crowning a little knoll just E of the road in Dromore
townland (D 048 137) is a shapely, fissured standing-stone about
1.2 metres high. A
cross has been discerned, carved into the centre of the SE face.
Ballyvennaght:
Portal-tombs and Standing-stone
D
200 367
Sheet
5
6.5 km NW of Cushendun,
and 400 metres SSW of the standing-stone marked on the map known
as 'Cloch na h-Uaighe' and 'Cloghacarna', a pair
of portal-tombs (not marked on the map) lie about 20 metres
apart, mostly below the level of the surrounding moorland which
has been excavated to reveal them. The westernmost tomb (Cloughananca)
is a fine example, with a large capstone about 3 metres across.
and a sill-stone. One side-stone is missing. The portal stones
are 1.5 metres high. Between this tomb and the second, which
collapsed under the weight of its capstone - perhaps not long
after, or even during, its construction - traces of the cairn
which contained them both can still be seen. From here both
the standing-stone in the same townland and the passage-tomb
on Carnanmore (2 km NE) are visible just behind Cushleake
Mountain North.
These tombs are difficult
to get to, and there are two routes. Either you can approach
from Loughareema (The Vanishing Lake) by walking some 850 metres
NW across the moor, or you can enter Ballypatrick Forest Drive
(the charge for a car was £2.50 in 2003) and park at a
gate (a hundred metres or so on the left) from where the standing-stone
marked on the map is clearly visible, and follow the outside
of the forest fence. For those with a GPS the 8-digit grid-reference
is D 1998 3675.
~
About 900 metres ESE at D 209 366 (GPS: D 20928 33628)
is another, smaller, portal-tomb almost buried in bog
and located next to a fast flowing stream on a gentle
west-facing slope. The displaced capstone is 2.1 metres
across and 1.5 metres thick, and just 60 cms of the portal-stones
are visible.
~
Some 200 metres E of the latter portal tomb, at D 207
365 (GPS D 20747 36486) is yet another portal-tomb.
Only 50-60 cm of the orthostats stand proud of the peat
and this is only the case because the peat around the
site has been cut a little. If the peat was undisturbed
I am not sure if anything sould be visible at all, part
from the top of the two-metre-long capstone which is slightly
displaced, but still covers the chamber (nearly full of
cairn rubble). The entrance faces roughly south. One very
interesting thing to note about this site is that some
cairn material survives just under the present ground
surface in front of the entrance. This would indicate
that the entrance was either blocked off at some point
or that the monument originally stood within a cairn that
reached at least up to its capstone. It is very rare to
find a portal tomb in this state, making this a very significant
monument.
~ About 75m behind this tomb is a large boulder that looks
as if it could be the capstone of another portal tomb
~ At D 201 371 (GPS D 20063 37114) is a Standing-stone
some 2 metres high, located on the edge of a little gorge
carved by several streams as they leave the bog lands to
the south.
~
Included in the itinerary of Ballypatrick Forest Drive (for
which there is a charge per car), and 2 km WSW of Loughareema,
in Glenmakeerin townland, are the remains of a double-court
tomb (D 185 350, signposted), the more northerly (three-chambered)
gallery of which still retains two of its roof-stones (one
of them large and displaced) and only two of its court-stones.
Only one court-stone of the other (unsegmented) gallery
survives.
~ 4 km NNE of
the portal tomb at Cloughananca is possibly the largest
passage tomb in the area at West Torr (D 213 406).
The kerb is massive and 15 metres across, with some of the
stones being over 2 metres in length and 1 metre high. At
the centre of the monument a handful of large stones define
parts of the central chamber. Some of these are over 1.5
metre tall. The backstone of the chamber is heavily encrusted
with quartz pebbles, and there is a solitary red stone just
outside the kerb to the southeast. The site seems to stand
inside the compound of what may have once been an army listening
post. A weird barrack-type building stands just down the
slope and the hilltop bristles with aerials.
On the way up to the tomb the visitor will see a small quarry
with flint nodules scattered all about: a seam of flint
can clearly be seen in the rock face. Antrim is Ireland's
only source of this once precious material, which was exported
to Britain and Europe.
~ 5.2 km ESE is
Altagore cashel or stone
fort.
~ 6 km WSW in Duncarbit
(D 147 347) is a fine pair of standing-stones of distinctive
shape, beautifully situated with views to the North Channel
and Rathlin Island, a semi-amphitheatre of hills to the S and
W, and the impressive maternal basaltic dome of Knocklayd
to the N, which is, significantly, girdled by standing-stones,
and dominates a wide area. The
cairn on top - 'Carn-na-truagh' or Cairn of Woe, 4
metres high and 20 metres in diameter - commands amazing views
in all directions, including the North Antrim coast and the
passage-tomb at Carnanmore, the Scottish Isle of Arran
and the Mull of Kintyre. It has an abundance of white quartzite
stones, and part of its boulder-kerb is visible on the W side.
Judging from their heights
and their distance apart, the Duncarbit stones could well be
one portal and one backstone of a destroyed portal-tomb.
Ballyvoy:
Passage-tomb and Court-tomb
D 158 418
Sheet 5
Overlooking
the ruined court tomb, which is built on the slopes to the
southwest, three low stones in the centre of the well-preserved
kerb are all that remains of the central chamber. None of
these stands more than 20 cms above the grass. The kerb is
almost complete, with only a few gaps. The tallest stones
are around 40cms high. The whole monument is about 18 metres
in diameter. To the North Rathlin Island can be seen, with
Scotland's Mull of Kintyre in the distance. There are good
views to the S toward the dominating mass of Knocklayd.
~
1.8 km NE is the passage tomb at Cross (see under Lough-na-Cranagh).
~
1.8 km NE is the passage tomb at Cross (see under Lough-na-Cranagh).
~
1.4 km SW in
the graveyard of Culfeightrin parish church, Ballynaglogh
(and 1.2 km W of the rustic, small Broughanlea cross-pillar
in the S fence of the road, with a weathered design of a crozier
and a T-cross on its E face) N of the A2, are two basalt standing-stones
at D 148 408 : one (near the church door) a massive phallic
pillar three metres high, and the other, at the E end of the
church, presumably once even more phallic, because it has
been savagely hacked. A third stone lies 5.5 metres to the
NNW.
These
are among a circuit of monuments which surround the impressive
hill of Knocklayd.
Beardiville:
Court-tomb
C 907 373
Sheets 4 and 5
Known
as "Gig-ma-Gog's Grave" - which echoes the
Gog-ma-gog made famous by T.C. Lethbridge - the tomb
is tucked away in the corner of a field close to the road. There
is very little of the court left, but the gallery is quite well
preserved, albeit somewhat scruffy. There are two large capstones
and some grass-covered cairn material reaches the top of the
gallery orthostats. A field wall has been built across the back
of the gallery, so that its length cannot be determined - but
it seems to beabout 4 metres long. There are a few loose large
stones in front of the gallery that were presumably from the
court. The tomb is built at the base of a gentle southwest facing
slope, so there is no view to the north or east; and the hedgerow
that separates the tomb from the road now cuts off all the views
to the south and west.
Belfast:
Court-tomb and bullaun-stone
J
335 725
Sheet
15
A
four-chambered tomb, originally from Ballintaggart in county
Armagh, with a shallow forecourt of 4 orthostats with a good
part of the cairn and kerb surviving, has been re-erected on
the far side of the Ulster Museum (just beyond the Queen's University
and overlooking the Botanic Gardens). A good overhead view of
the tomb may be had from the museum's cafeteria - though in
recent years the monument has become overgrown and is now surrounded
by a hideous fence.
~
3 km NNW and mounted on a plinth outside St Matthew's Church
(brick-built in an interesting neo-Romanesque style), at the
top of the Shankill Road on the N side, close to Woodvale
Park near the centre of the city, is a bullaun
stone which was dug up from Shankill graveyard (lower down
on the other side of the road) in 1855.
click
for more
recent photos
~
4.7 km S by W of the Ulster Museum (via the Malone Road and
Shaw's Bridge) is "The Giant's Ring", Ballynahatty in
county Down.
Carnanmore:
Passage-tomb
D
218 388
Sheet
5
A circular
hilltop-cairn offering splendid views and containing a good
deal of quartz
(typical of passage-tombs) surrounds a rectangular, corbel-roofed
chamber, approached by a short passage from the SW. What seems
like a high entrance is simply a hole left when part of the
chamber was removed. A basalt corbel near the capstone has faint
decoration in the style of passage-tomb art, including a snake-like
line, 3 horseshoe shapes and two groups of concentric circles,
one of which may be a spiral. There is a ring of worn cupmarks
on the top of one of the roof-stones.
~ 2 km SW are the
portal-tombs of Ballyvennaght.
Craigarogan:
Passage-tomb
J
270 842
Sheet
15
Granny's
Grave (which is a corruption of "Grania's Grave" which is
a mistranslation of Carn Greine, Cairn of the Sun, pronounced
locally as 'Carngraney') is a shamelessly-neglected and overgrown,
low, megalithic passage still roofed, 9 metres long, at the
SW end of which is a separate, sealed polygonal chamber which
is roofed by a single stone 1.8 metres across. It seems that
the tomb (now filled with earth and stones) was surrounded by
a circular kerb, indicating that it is a hybrid or variant form
of passage-tomb in an area where there were other passage-tombs
(now destroyed) built by the intruding late-Neolithic "Beaker
People" from Britain. It resembles the "undifferentiated"
passage-tombs of county Waterford.
~ 6.3
km W by N, in a field behind a farm, and just visible from the
Antrim-Templepatrick road through gaps in the hedge is Kilmakee
"Stone Circle" (J 209 851), which is almost certainly
the kerb of a now-depleted cairn which may have contained a
tomb. The ring of some 45 basalt boulders (some smoothed by
water-rolling) has been planted with trees, so that gnarled
roots and trunks are growing around the stones and occupying
the spaces between, except on the N side where the kerb and
cairn have been removed.
~
Just over 7 km NNW is the Holed Stone at Doagh.
~
12 km NE is "Buchanan's Stone" at Castletown
(see under Ballylumford ).
Craigs:
Court-tomb and Passage-tomb
C
978 175
Sheet
8
At a
height of 200 metres on Long Mountain, this reconstructed tomb
has a large capstone over the entrance and first chamber of
the gallery - probably not the original. The almost semicircular
forecourt faces SE. Known as The Broad Stone, it was
once a popular place of assembly. It is the
subject of a
poem by the Californian poet Robinson Jeffers.
~ 750 metres NW is
a standing-stone in a field-hedge (C 977 183), which looks (misleadingly)
as if it might once have had ogam on it.
~ 800 metres
SW on the other side of the road is a charming and beautifully-sited
small denuded passage-tomb, whose seven close, tall uprights support
a flat roofstone some 2 by 1.6 metres. Two fallen stones by the
opening on the SW side may be remains of a short passage.
~ 4.4
km ENE is the fine court-tomb at Ballymacaldrack.
Curramoney:
Wedge-tomb
D 033 379
Sheet 5
About
50 metres W of the road, the small but surprisingly intact Druid's
Altar is stoutly fenced - and treated with potent weedkiller
when visited in Spring 2002. One of the 4 well-chosen façade-stones
is heavily (naturally ?) pocked, and there is a natural cupmark
on a Northern kerbstone. At least two chamber-stones project
above the cairn, some 12 metres long and largely intact. From
this tomb there is a good view of cairn-topped Knocklayd
to the E.
~ 5.8
km N by W in Clegnagh (D 025 436) is a passageless
passage-tomb with a single capstone. Half of its kerb has
fallen into a quarry.
~ 5.3
km NNW in Lemnagh Beg (D 023 433) is another similar
passage-tomb.
~ 700 metres N of the Passage Tomb at Lemnagh Beg, amongst
the dunes overlooking the beach of Whitepark Bay (D
023 440) is a low cairn surrounded by a kerb of stones with
a single stone set at the centre. The exposed kerb is visible
most of the way around the cairn - but not at the apparent
base. This suggests that it was built upon a natural high
spot, presumably rock, in the dunes. The cairn is 7 metres
in diameter and over 2 metres tall.
Whitepark
Bay was one of the places that the roughed-out obsidian axes
from Tievebulliagh were brought to be finished.
~ 5.8
km N by E of Curraghmoney, in Magheraboy (D 037 437)
is 'The Druid Stone', a simple polygonal passage-tomb
in a round cairn, supporting a single, massive split-boulder
capstone, with traces of a short passage on the NE side. Some
14 kerbstones remain.
click
to enlarge
Doagh:
Holed Stone
J
242 907
Sheet
14
This fine slab, situated
on a rocky outcrop to the SE of Holestone Road, 2 km WNW of
Doagh village, commands wide views. A circular, chamfered hole
some 10 cms in diameter at groin height was made by boring from
both sides of the slab, as is usual in such monuments. In a
significant degeneration of early progenerative practices lovers
plighted their troth by passing a white handkerchief through
the hole. This stone is echoed by another, larger slab with
a similar groin-height hole, straight across the North Channel
at Crows in Galloway.
click
for more
~ 12 km ENE in Ballynarry
(J 367 938), 50 metres from a track, is an irregularly-shaped
standing-stone just over 2 metres tall.
~ 2.4
km SE and visible SE of the road from Parkgate to Doagh is the
impressive Moyadam Standing-stone, almost 2 metres high
with a curious "feminising" groove at the top.
~ 7.2 km SE (on sheet
15) is 'Carn Greine', Craigarogan.
~ 2.4 km W (on sheet
14) in Ballywee (J 218 899) is what the N.I. Sites and
Monuments Record describes as "a well-preserved Early
Christian settlement site enclosed by 2 arcs of low banks. Gullies
running along the outer base of these banks were not defensive,
but diverted surface water away from the living area. The entrance
to the site was through a gap at SE. In the living area were
the remains of 5 Early Christian structures, with 2 further
possible structures, and 3 souterrains, the entrances to 2 of
which were within buildings. Areas of cobble paving and stone
kerbs were also uncovered during excavations, along with 3 hearths."
The site was apparently in use as late as 1000 AD. It is listed
here because the souterrains are accessible.
photo by courtesy of earlychristianireland.org
~ Closer
to The Holestone, at J 228 893 in the same townland of
Ballywee, on the N edge of a mound, is a three-chambered souterrain
with 'creeps'.
~ 3.4 km W (on sheet
14) in the townland of Tobergill is "The Crags",
marked as a stone circle at J 208 905. All but one of the stones
have been tumbled. It
is probably not a circle, however, but the sad remains of a
court-tomb. Between the monument and the by-road to the S is
what seems to be a rare example of a surviving quarry from which
the stones were hewn.
~ About
5 km WNW (also on sheet 14) in Browndod, up a narrow
lane to the W of the Browndod Road is a court-tomb (J 206 924)
which offers fine views and consists of a clearly-defined forecourt
leading to a gallery 14 metres long, segmented into 4 chambers
by 3 pairs of jambs, two of
which have sillstones.
The tomb
is set within a long trapezoidal cairn of about 30 x 15 metres,
which was originally covered with earth. Before the stones were
laid the builders made a foundation of red clay carried from
an area a few hundred yards further downhill. During excavation
pottery was found and three ritual pits which were dug very
deeply, reaching below the red clay layer. Unfortunately, a
rather rusty pylon now stands very close to the tomb, somewhat
reducing the otherwise fine setting.
The
tomb is the best-surviving monument of a megalithic complex
which included standing-stones and other tombs, including one
at J 202 923 which now consists of a horseshoe shaped façade
at the NE end of a low cairn. The W side of the façade
is well preserved with 7 stones surviving. The E side retains
only 2 stones, with 2 fallen stones at the S end, which may
have been portal-stones.
~
Also in the same townland, at J 196 930 is the Tardree
Stone, a menhir just over 2 metres high.
~ 9 km WSW (and 6.1
km WSW of Tobergill in the townland of Steeple in the
park which houses the Antrim borough council offices (J 155
877), and beside a very fine example of an 11th century Round
Tower (outside the scope of this gazetteer), is a large boulder
with a double bullaun,
probably dating from megalithic times. This makes an excellent
picnic place.
~ Just under 9 km
NW is the roadside standing-stone at Carncome (see under
Ticloy).
Galboly
Lower: ?Passage-tombs
D 290 245
Sheet 9
500 metres
S of the deserted clachan (tiny hamlet) of Galboly is
a small tomb comprising a chamber formed by large basalt boulders.
It is covered by a large capstone supported on E side by three
large boulders and two smaller stones, and on the W side by
two boulders. Traces of a roughly oval cairn lie to the N. Another
small megalithic tomb lies 25 metres NE, and a possible
third just below the plateau. These may all belong to the
type of derivative passage-tomb typical of the Antrim coast.
~
6.5 km WNW (on sheet 5) is Lurigethan promontory-fort
(see under Altagore, above).
~ 14 km SSE is Goakstown wedge-tomb (below).
Goakstown
or Gowkstown: Wedge-tomb
D
316 107
Sheet
9
Half-way up and to
the left of a farm-lane running E of the Carncastle-Glenarm
road, this fairly well-preserved wedge-tomb still has over 25
stones of its kerb, some of its cairn, sill-stones, and one
large roofstone in place, with others displaced. A large façade-stone
stands near the entrance. A slab about 120 cms high broken -
probably intentionally, to form a 'soul-hole' - at one corner,
divides the rectangular portico from the main chamber.
click
for another photo
About
150 metres SW, on the other side of the road, is a low standing-stone,
but its significance seems paltry compared with the remarkable
volcanic plug of Slemish which dominates a great deal of the
landscape of SE Antrim.
~ 1.8 km ESE is the
phallic standing-stone at Ballygilbert.
Lough-na-Cranagh:
Crannóg
D
178 427
Sheet
5
Near the summit of
Fair Head, this picturesque crannóg
or artificial lake-refuge is oval in shape and, unusually, contained
by a dry-stone wall. Fair Head is accessible by car as far as
the clachan or house-cluster to the S of the Lough where
a car park is provided by the National Trust. There is a spectacular
view from the top of the sheer, fissured cliffs beyond the Lough,
to Rathlin Island and, visibility permitting, the Mull of Kintyre.
~ About
200 metres SSW in Coolanlough (D 180 422) are the ruins
of a possible wedge-tomb, of which just one original stone still
stands in the trapezoidal cairn, which has been augmented by
field-clearance. The site is listed here because of its situation,
and is indicated in the photo below by the arrowhead.
~ 500 metres S, in Cross (D 171 430) overlooking Rathlin
Island, is a passage-tomb in a round cairn some 15 metres across,
comprising a central chamber of 5 basalt slabs approached from
the N by a short passage. A slab within the chamber and another
lying outside may be displaced roofstones. Eight stones protruding
through the grass are very likely part of a peristalithic ring
around the chamber some 10 metres in diameter.
~ 950 metres
SSE of the crannóg is a ruined court-tomb in Tervillin
townland, known as Cloghafadd or Long Stone. (D 182 418)
Many of the court-stones, some of which are 1.5 metres high,
are in situ. Some stones from the gallery remain, but
not enough to estimate its dimensions. The court, some 6 metres
wide and about the same deep, faces NE, and the gallery is 9
metres long. It is difficult to distinguish the cairn from the
knoll - but some kerb stones are visible. The
tomb is situated so that Rathlin Island seems to sit on top
of the intervening hills. To achieve this the tomb was built
on what appears to be an artificial platform. This level area
projects out from the north facing slope and is over 3 metres
high at the far end. The
picture below shows some of the remaining court-stones with
Rathlin Island behind.
~ 3.7
km SW is the stone pair at Ballynaglogh (see under Ballyvoy).
Ticloy:
Portal-tomb
D
232 127
Sheet
9
In
a field 8 km SW of Carnlough, "The Stone House"
has been thought to be a hybrid between a court-tomb and a
portal-tomb. At the E end of what was once a long cairn is
a small chamber up to 1.8 metres high, roofed with 2 capstones
and flanked by 5 orthostats forming a forecourt. A large slab
from the tomb, now incorporated (beside a gate) in a field-wall
to the SW, seems to be all that remains of a second tomb at
the other end of the long cairn which also disappeared in
the 19th century.
~
2.5 km ESE is the huge court-tomb at Antynanum.
~
12.7 km WNW in Skerry West (D 138 164), easily visible
from a road-junction, is a fine standing-stone some 1.8
metres high - one of several still surviving (and marked
on the map) in an area previously littered with standing-stones.
1.6
km NW of it (in Scotchomerbane at D 116 175) is another
- incorporated in a roadside stone wall.
click
for more
600
metres SSE of the Skerry West stone, adjoining a field-fence
and obscured by a thorn-bush in Lisnamanny (D 131
159) is a taller stone, of basalt, with a pointed top
and a deep fissure running down it. At D 134 155 in the
same townland is a pair of irregular basalt standing-stones
on either side of a farm-track.
~
11.5 km WSW in Craigywarren (D 125 030) is another
standing-stone (low but massive) not marked on the map.
~
17 km SSW in a bungalow wall in Carncome (J 168
962 on the same map) is a conglomerate stone 2.1 metres
high whose surface has many natural pits and hollows.
Tully
North, Loughguile: Standing-stones
D 082 252
Sheet 5
A large,
pointed slab of basalt, some 2 metres high, which according
to local information, was moved a short distance to the W when
the road was widened, is now at the top of a hill on the W side
of the Coolkeeran Road.
400 metres
ENE (D 086 253) is another stone, 1.4 metres high.
~ At
Corkey North (D 081 235 and D 082 235) are another two
stones, 100 metres apart, 2.7 and 2.1 metres high.
~ At
Ballyveely Upper (D 076 254) to the NW, is another stone
set on top of Cannon Hill. It is a tall, thin slab now incorporated
into a field-wall, standing at an angle of 60 degrees. When
upright and unencumbered by a wall, this would have been an
impressive stone.
~ 4 km
N of the Tully North stones, in an uncultivated garden attached
to the site of an old corn-mill at Magherahoney, a standing-stone,
3.4 metres long, lies fallen. It is locally known as Saint
Patrick !