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Temples of Stone: Exploring the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland

Temples of Stone: Exploring the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Carrickglass - Portal Tomb in Ireland (Republic of) in Co. Sligo

Submitted by Anthony_Weir on Thursday, 19 July 2007  Page Views: 11294

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Carrickglass Alternative Name: The Labby Rock
Country: Ireland (Republic of) County: Co. Sligo Type: Portal Tomb
 Nearest Village: Riverstown
Map Ref: G796157
Discovery Map Number: D25
Latitude: 54.090076N  Longitude: 8.312497W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 1 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 4

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Carrickglass
Carrickglass submitted by Anthony_Weir : Scan of colour slide from the 1970/80s (Vote or comment on this photo)
Portal Tomb in Co. Sligo. ‘Labby’ is an anglicisation of the Irish word for ‘bed’ – as in ‘Dermot and Grania’s Bed’. This tomb, 7 kms SE of Riverstown and 7.2 kms NNW of Ballyfarnon, is best found by following the signs for “Cromlech Lodge”from Castlebaldwin.

It is situated in the hollow of a field 1200 metres S of Lough Nasool, across three rough fields to the W of a by-road, this remarkable megalith has a huge limestone capstone 2.5 metres thick, 4.5 metres long, and 2.75 metres wide, weighing some 70 tonnes. It is a veritable hanging garden of vegetation, and appears to be driving the ridiculously puny portal-stones and backstone into the soft ground. The entrance is marked by a low thin door-slab.

~ 2.4 km W in Heapstown (G 772163) immediatelyto the E of a by-road leading to Riverstown, is a huge cairn over 60 metres in diameter and 6 metres high – said locally to have been piled up on a single night by non-human forces. Although it is on low ground, its enormous size and massive kerb suggest that it contains a passage-tomb like one of those at Carrowkeel at the far end of Lough Arrow.
Three crannógs in the lake are marked on sheet 25.

Note: Labby Rock wrapped in tinfoil by loony landowner - see comment!
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Carrickglass
Carrickglass submitted by Jurgen : Dolmen with very large capstone. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Carrickglass
Carrickglass submitted by TimPrevett : Tripod mounted camera hand held over the wall clearly shows the iconic H of the portal tomb - albeit weighed upon by the capstone. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Carrickglass
Carrickglass submitted by Flickr : The Labby Rock, Carrickglass Portal Tomb The Labby Rock, Carrickglass Portal Tomb. In Irish Mythology Nuada of the Silver Arm, King of the Tuatha De Danann is buried here, Nuada was killed in the Battle of Moytirra by Balor of the Evil Eye, King of the Formorians. Image copyright: Irishstones (Jim Dempsey), hosted on Flickr and displayed under the terms of their API. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Carrickglass
Carrickglass submitted by TimPrevett : Wonder if this huge capstone will split under its own weight at some point? (Vote or comment on this photo)

Carrickglass
Carrickglass submitted by TimPrevett : ...and even a large nearby hotel rather advertises the dolmen by its name and logo. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Carrickglass
Carrickglass submitted by TimPrevett : The dolmen even has its own named walk... (1 comment)

Carrickglass
Carrickglass submitted by TimPrevett : Official public footpath takes you right pass The Labby Rock (right of centre top). Mown in the summer too!

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Key: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 675m SW 218° Cromleach Lodge* Chambered Tomb (G79181517)
 2.4km WNW 283° Heapstown Cairn* Chambered Cairn (G77251626)
 3.7km SSE 156° Shee Lugh* Chambered Cairn
 4.1km W 267° Hermit's Cave and Holy Well - Burren National Park* Holy Well or Sacred Spring
 5.4km SW 222° Carrowkeel O Passage Grave (G759117)
 5.4km SW 221° Carrowkeel P Passage Grave (G760116)
 5.7km SW 230° Carrowkeel* Passage Grave (G75231206)
 5.7km SW 228° Carrowkeel Cairn G* Chambered Cairn (G7531111933)
 5.7km SW 229° Carrowkeel Cairn X* Cairn (G75251196)
 5.7km SW 228° Carrowkeel H* Passage Grave (G7530211863)
 5.8km SW 227° Carrowkeel Cairn K* Chambered Cairn (G7533511726)
 5.9km SW 227° Carrowkeel L* Passage Grave (G753117)
 5.9km SW 223° Carrowkeel M Passage Grave (G755114)
 5.9km SW 222° Carrowkeel N Passage Grave (G756113)
 6.0km SW 233° Carrowkeel Cairn C Passage Grave (G748121)
 6.0km SW 233° Carrowkeel D Passage Grave (G748121)
 6.2km SW 228° Carrowkeel Cairn E* Court Tomb (G7492711606)
 6.4km SW 227° Carrowkeel F* Passage Grave (G749114)
 6.6km SW 231° Carrowkeel B* Passage Grave (G7446711598)
 8.8km WSW 249° Kesh Corran Chambered Cairn (G7127812622)
 13.6km SSW 192° Ballynanultagh* Portal Tomb (G76800237)
 15.4km SW 220° Ballynakill (LoughRea) Stone Circle* Stone Circle (G696040)
 16.0km ENE 59° Turlough Stone Row* Standing Stones (G935238)
 21.4km NNW 348° Magheraghanrush* Court Tomb (G753367)
 21.9km NW 323° Carrowmore 27* Passage Grave
View more nearby sites and additional images

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"Carrickglass" | Login/Create an Account | 6 News and Comments
  
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Re: Carrickglass (Labby Rock) on YouTube by Runemage on Sunday, 17 April 2011
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Had to chortle reading about the bills he's been sending out, hilarious!

Seriously though, it's really about time that ROI got to grips with bolshie landowners who don't recognise either the treasures they are custodians for or the potential for income they are turning down for very little effort in these adverse times.



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Re: Carrickglass (Labby Rock) on YouTube by Anonymous on Sunday, 17 April 2011
Latest news is that the owner of the farm is sending invoices to people who photographed Labby Rock while in his land. Apparently he sent an invoice of €500 to Ireland's Megalithomania site.

I miss the previous owner who used to invite visitors in for tea, scones and told stories. I believe his daughter inherited the place. Story I heard was she wanted to "escape" Ireland when young so emigrated to the USA, married a USA man, then when her father died returned to Ireland with this USA man who banned everyone from getting close to the rock.

We are praying they get fed up with Ireland again and more welcoming owners will take over again.
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Carrickglass (Labby Rock) on YouTube by TimPrevett on Tuesday, 15 June 2010
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Re: Carrickglass access (Labby Rock) by TimPrevett on Sunday, 06 June 2010
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Visited during the week; tried approaching from the SE - knocked several times on a property with music blaring, and shouted out, but got no response. Eventually came across an official trail - The Labby Walk is done courtesy of the Cromleach Lodge Country House Hotel which gives an engaging woodland walk - really recommend it. http://www.cromleach.com/
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Re: Outrage as historic dolmen is turned into 'baked potato' by davidmorgan on Thursday, 19 July 2007
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Strange laws and owners' attitudes in Ireland. I once found a dolmen surrounded by wrecked cars.
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Outrage as historic dolmen is turned into 'baked potato' by coldrum on Thursday, 19 July 2007
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Outrage as historic dolmen is turned into 'baked potato'

AN HISTORIC Irish dolmen has been wrapped in tin foil and silver plastic - so that it now looks more like a Flash Gordon spaceship than a prehistoric monument.

Labby Rock, near Castlebaldwin, Co Sligo, and overlooking Lough Arrow, looked more like a "baked potato" according to one expert who visited it recently.

The famous 70-ton dolmen was said to have been used as a bed by Diarmaid and Grainne when fleeing Fionn MacCumhaill.

But Mary Quinlan, who has been visiting ancient monuments for 20 years, had never seen anything like it.

"We came out of the wood and the first thing I saw was the Labby Rock covered in what looked like tin foil/silver paper. I was upset to see this 5,000-year-old monument looking a bit ridiculous.

"On closer inspection I was more concerned because I noticed a lot of the grass and heather from the top of the monument had been cut. The orthostats (the stones the roofstone sits on) looked for all the world like baked potatoes," said the antropologist.

But recent visitors to the monument were even more shocked to discover the landowner has the right to do this, whereas the public have no right under Irish law to view this piece of ancient Irish heritage - if the landowner forbids it.

Labby Rock is one of the largest dolmens in Ireland, with a roofstone weighing around 70 tonnes. It is mentioned in guidebooks, and there is a stile over the wall leading to it, with a path marked by an official yellow arrow and walker icon.

However, recent visitors to the dolmen got a rude awakening when a figure in a baseball cap came down the meadow, filming with a video camera. He angrily announced - in an American accent - that he was both the landowner and the creator of this 'installation art'; that the group had destroyed five days' work by pulling up one edge of his balloon; and that they were trespassing.

Inquiries have comfirmed that although monuments are protected under the 2004 Monuments Act, the law has no problem in principle with what was done to this monument. A spokesman for the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government said: "The Labby Rock is . . . a recorded monument. Any landowner who intends to carry out work on or around a recorded monument is obliged to give us two months' notice, so we can go out and assess the situation.

"Apparently this didn't happen and we have received a complaint from a member of the public, so one of our archaeologists has gone out to have a look. It's unlikely, though, that there's any damage."

Another local landowner was shocked at the department's attitude. "People come to see the Labby Rock," he said, "not a f**king balloon. If they want to see a balloon they can go to McDonalds!"

But the public don't have any legal rights to see monuments that lie on private ground, according to Sligo Heritage Officer Siobhan Ryan: "People don't have the right to roam and it is with the goodwill and permission of the landowners that we access those sites."

However, a team of experts appointed by Rural Affairs Minister Eamon O Cuiv has just brought out a report suggesting legislation be brought in to open access rights to the countryside. The report has already caused a furore.

Meanwhile, Minister for the Environment John Gormley has saidcontroversies like the Tara motorway development raise the issue of whether current measures to protect our archaeological and natural landscape are adequate.

"I agree with bodies such as the Heritage Council, which has said that we need enhanced measures," said Gormley. "In the coming weeks, I will begin a consultative process in order to bring forward a new National Landscape Strategy. This was a key environmental protection commitment in the Programme for Government."

Efforts by the Sunday Independent to con

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