Kilkeel Portal Tomb (The Crawtree Stone)

Ever since seeing Kilkeel Portal Tomb on Jim Dempsey's great web site Megalithic Ireland it has been on my wish list. So making a slight detour on my way to work last week brought me to Kilkeel and this tomb did not disappoint.

The tomb as you first see it from the lane way looks like it is trying to escape and has got stuck on the banked wall.

The capstone is an impressive 2.5 meters in width and over 0.5 of a meter in depth.
The two portal stones are 1.3 meters in height and just under 1 meter in width.
The side slab stones are 1.5 meters in height and over 1 meter in length.

The stone at the front of the tomb and the newish looking boulder at the back do not belong to the original tomb.

Access - The tomb is just off the main street in Kilkeel, park in the Asda car park and walk up the lane way you will see the back of the tomb on your left.  

Legananny Portal Tomb

One of Northern Ireland's most famous megalithic sites is County Downs Legananny Portal Tomb.

This really has to be one of the most striking tombs I have ever seen with the Mourne mountains providing a superb backdrop.

The tripod tomb has a long narrow capstone which is over 3 meters in length.
The front two portal stones are 1.8 meters in height and the back stone is over 1 meter in height.
One of the front stones has an L shaped cut from the top of the stone (which is thought to be original).


Some stones remain around the base from what would been a more extensive cairn.
The name Legananny comes from "Aines standing stone" Aines being an Irish goddess.

Access - The site is signposted from the A50 Castlewellan to Banbridge road.

Parking for a couple of cars is available and leaves you with a very short walk to the tomb.

















  

Dunnaman Court Tomb

  

Dunnaman is listed as a court tomb, but all that can be seen today is the gallery.
The gallery has four chambers, with the jams very visible (image No 3).
The tomb is close to 13 meters in length and over 1.5 meters wide, it has a east-northeast alignment.
The location of this site is just off the A2 as you travel towards Kilkeel, it is well signposted and can be found in it's own enclosure.
For a tomb that is missing so much of what it should have Dunnaman is still well worth a visit.