MEGALITHIC MONUMENTS
OF IRELAND.COM
OF IRELAND.COM
| KILLADANGAN MEGALITHIC COMPLEX |
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| KILLADANGAN STANDING STONE I |
| KILLADANGAN STANDING STONE II |
| KILLADANGAN STANDING STONE III |
| KILLADANGAN STONE ROW |
| KILLADANGAN STONE PAIR |
| CO-ORDINATES 53 46' 55.147"N...9 36' 13.215"W |
| The Bronze Age megalithic complex of Killadangan, 'Choill an Daingin', (The Wood of the Fortress), is marked as 'Cromlech' on O.S. 6" 1837, later as 'Stone Row' (1882) and on the 1914 map as 'Cromlech & Standing Stones (site of)', is located on the south shore-line of Gortbraud salt-marsh overlooking Clew Bay, ENE of Croagh Patrick, 'Cruagh Phadraig', just off the R335 and 5km west of Westport, 'Cathair na Mart'. The map also shows a circle of standing stones a short distance south-west of the enclosure. 'The "Cromlech" at present consists of a line. On present evidence these stones cannot be accepted as the remains of a megahthic tomb. They may have been related to the circle of stones since removed' (De Valera & O'Nuallain). To the west of the Stone Pair and SW of the Stone Row is a roughly circular arrangement of small stones. These may be part of a disturbed stone circle. This collection of monuments, probably dating from the Bronze Age, includes an oval shaped enclosure (MA087-014001), with a fine Stone Row, a Stone Pair, four Standing Stones, a possible Stone Circle, and a possible bronze-age cooking area, 'fulacht fiadh' (MA087-014007). The grouping of these monuments would suggest that it was a major ceremonial site. Although the site stands on a salt-marsh, that can be submerged with most high tides, in earlier millenia, the high tides would not have troubled the site. What is most remarkable about the enclosure is the Stone Row, which consists of five standing stones (one has fallen) which increases in height from north to south, drawing the eye up to a niche in the eastern shoulder in Croagh Patrick. The stone pair & the standing stones also point to Croagh Patrick from various compass points, and some of which mimick the contours of the sacred mountain. |
