Monday, December 12, 2011

Labbacallee Wedge Tomb

Side
Rear
Front
Labbacallee wedge tomb (Leaba Caillighe in Irish, meaning The Hag's Bed) is a large pre-historic burial monument. Labbacallee is thought to have been built during the early Bronze Age, circa 1500 BC.
The site is the largest Irish examples of a wedge tomb. It consists of a long rectangular chamber, covered by three capstones, the largest of which is 8M in length and weighs up to 2 tons. Three chambers lie to the rear of the monument. The site is surrounded by a wide u-shaped kerb.
Local folklore associates the site with the Celtic Hag-Goddess Cailleach Bheur, and when during the excavation of the site it was found to contain the remains of a woman. Although the body had been positioned within the tomb, her skull was found outside of it.
This and many other of the great sites I have put up on the blog have been discovered and found thanks to Jim Dempseys great web site which can be found here ! http://www.megalithicireland.com/index.html