We have a couple seasoned Irish travelers with us. My husband of course who has been many times and his best friend who has been several times. They really liked Brownshill Dolmen and thought everyone would enjoy it also.
Brownshill Dolmen
Brownshill
Dolmen
Gate-stone
flanked by the two portal stones supporting the capstone
Brownshill
Dolmen - seen from the road; silhouette of tourists indicates scale
The Brownshill
Dolmen (Dolmain Chnoc an Bhrúnaigh in Irish) is a megalithic portal
tomb situated
3 km east of Carlow, in County
Carlow, Ireland. It lies just off the R726 regional
road and is clearly
visible from the road. The capstone at Brownshill, weighing an estimated 100
metric tons, is reputed to be the heaviest in Europe. The tomb is listed as a National Monument.
Name
Officially
known as the Kernanstown Cromlech, it is also spelled as Browneshill
Dolmen. It is sited on a hill on which sits the former estate house of the
Browne family from which the hill takes its name.
History
It was built
between 4000 and 3000 BC by some of the earliest farmers to inhabit the island.
It is also known as Brownshill Portal Tomb, so-called because the
entrance to the burial chamber was flanked by two large upright stones
(orthostats) supporting the granite capstone, or roof, of the chamber. The
capstone is thought to have been covered by an earthen mound and a gate stone
blocked the entrance. At Brownshill both portal stones and the gate-stone are
still in situ; the capstone lies on top of the portals and gate-stone and
slopes to the ground away from the entrance. Not much additional information is
available on Brownshill because it has never been excavated. A fourth upright stands close by and could be
the remains of a forecourt. The extent of the chamber cannot be determined.
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