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<< Our Photo Pages >> Dolmen Of The Four Maols - Burial Chamber or Dolmen in Ireland (Republic of) in Co. Mayo

Submitted by macd on Thursday, 01 September 2016  Page Views: 9359

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Country: Ireland (Republic of) County: Co. Mayo Type: Burial Chamber or Dolmen
Nearest Town: Ballina  Nearest Village: Ballina
Latitude: 54.107043N  Longitude: 9.165801W
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.
3 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.
4 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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macd visited on 28th Aug 2016 - their rating: Cond: 3 Amb: 3 If you can ignore its surroundings (an industrial estate and a road with telegraph poles running alongside) this is a nice site, though I suspect it was once a great deal finer. There is easy access from the road via a grassy path into a small field between the industrial estate and the road (Primrose Hill). Although it is known as the Dolmen of the Four Maols (Brothers) because of a local legend, I think this is the last remains of a larger structure, perhaps just the back of a chamber which would have faced roughly to the SE. Another large stone sits a few metres away in this direction and another can be seen a bit further away, flat in the grass. Walking over the site I could feel other stones. Could this once have been a court tomb? Geophys would help categorise the monument. The drill holes in the capstone in a hexagon pattern and drill holes on the separate stone suggest someone has dried to blow this megalith apart, and the damaged single stone suggests they were partly successful. Nevertheless, on a sunny afternoon this site was still impressive. There is an information panel at the end of the path. PS It's in much better surroundings now, in a nice grassy paddock.

Runemage have visited here

Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by macd : Hexagon of drilled marks on capstone. Did someone try to blow this stone apart? (The single stone nearby shows they succeeded to some extent). (Vote or comment on this photo)
Burial Chamber (Dolmen) in Co. Mayo. If you can ignore its surroundings (an industrial estate and a road with telegraph poles running alongside) this is a nice site, though I suspect it was once a great deal finer.

There is easy access from the road via a grassy path into a small field between the industrial estate and the road (Primrose Hill). Although it is known as the Dolmen of the Four Maols (Brothers) because of a local legend, I think this is the last remains of a larger structure, perhaps just the back of a chamber which would have faced roughly to the SE. Another large stone sits a few metres away in this direction and another can be seen a bit further away, flat in the grass.

Walking over the site I could feel other stones. Could this once have been a court tomb? Geophys would help categorise the monument. The drill holes in the capstone in a hexagon pattern and drill holes on the separate stone suggest someone has dried to blow this megalith apart, and the damaged single stone suggests they were partly successful. Nevertheless, on a sunny afternoon this site was still impressive. There is an information panel at the end of the path. PS It's in much better surroundings now, in a nice grassy paddock.
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Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by macd : From the SE, with single stone (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by Runemage : Maols means friends/companions if memory serves, but I've forgotten the legend that the stone is named after. Taken in 1999 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by Runemage : It's signposted from the station, an uphill walk, quite steep if memory serves. What a sorry state this site was in when I visited in 1999, I hope it's had some TLC since then, it was in dire need. There's the single dolmen and a stone that's on its own nearby, whether it's part of the site I don't know, but intuition tells me if it wasn't, it would have been removed long ago. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by cmourao : This dolmen is located on the back of Ballina's Railway Station and dates back from about 2000 BC. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by macd : Information panel, part of a walking trail around Ballina

Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by macd : The drill marks on two sides show this stone has been deliberately damaged - possibly blown apart?

Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by durhamnature : Drawing from "Rude Stone Monuments" via archive.org

Dolmen Of The Four Maols
Dolmen Of The Four Maols submitted by Runemage : The single stone nearby.

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"Dolmen Of The Four Maols" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
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Re: Dolmen Of The Four Maols by Runemage on Monday, 01 April 2019
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Folklore link by Jacquetta Hawkes, 1976
https://voicesfromthedawn.com/ballina-dolmen/

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Re: Dolmen Of The Four Maols by macd on Thursday, 01 September 2016
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I've just read in Borlase's "the Dolmens of Ireland" Vol 1 p117-118 (1897):
"Close to the monument is a fragment of rock, which has been blasted by gunpowder, but which, in Col. Wood-Martin’s opinion, never had any connection with the dolmen”.
Col W G Wood-Martin was an antiquarian (1847-1917) but I have to disagree with him, given the same drill holes on the capstone, though fortunately, it was not actually blasted.
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Re: Dolmen Of The Four Maols by davidmorgan on Tuesday, 28 July 2015
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It looks in a much better state nowadays, Street View
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