Annaghmare, County Armagh
Surrounded by conifers of a state forestry plantation and approached by a lane to the east of a byroad, 2 miles north of Crossmaglen, this impressive monument has long been recognised as an outstanding example of an Irish court tomb. The imposing forecourt is seen today much as it must have appeared when it was built over 4000 years ago.
A deep U-shape in plan with slightly incurving extremities, it well evokes the classic 'horned cairn' designation originally applied to this group of gallery tombs. Of particular interest and surviving here to a greater extent perhaps than in any other court tomb, are the very fine sections of dry-walling between the orthostats of the façade.
This 'post-and-panel' construction consists of carefully bedded slabs of stone built up to bridge the gaps between the uprights, whose exposed faces are notably flat and evenly aligned. The well-preserved cairn, 65 feet in length, encloses a gallery of three chambers segmented by substantial angular jambs. The cairn survives in places to a height of over 5 feet and tapers markedly in width from south to north. It had been enlarged to accommodate two additional chambers set back to back at right angles to the central gallery, the second and third chambers of which yielded cremated and inhumed remains, pottery and flints, when excavated in 1963-4. The megalith is known in the neighbourhood as the Black Castle and is marked such on older maps.Other Ancient Stones in County Armagh:
Aghmakane | Annacloghmullin | Ballykeel | Ballymacdermot | Clonlum | Clontygora | Kilnasaggart | Slieve Gullion
Click here to buy the Appletree Press book from Amazon.co.uk. For more information click on: Ireland's Ancient Stones - A Megalithic Heritage by Kenneth McNally, published by Appletree Press.
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