Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
Bayswell Leacht
DatedEst. 3700–2900 BCE
Photo A.-K. D. · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
Bayswell Leacht is a megalithic mound in County Kilkenny, Bayswell, Ireland. Its entries are Wikidata item Q136593960; the position in the catalogue is 52.7642° N, 7.6205° W.
Built from structured records, not from an articleSources and licences
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
The full article
About Bayswell Leacht
This kind of monument hereSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Ireland's hilltop cairns are among its most conspicuous monuments. Many of the great cairns are Neolithic passage tombs, built around 3000 BCE on hilltops: Heapstown Cairn in County Sligo is believed to cover a passage tomb and sits near the Carrowkeel cemetery, and Queen Maeve's Cairn on the summit of Knocknarea, about 55 metres across and 10 metres high, is the largest cairn in Ireland outside Brú na Bóinne. The latter has not been excavated, but its flat top and kerbstones are typical of a passage tomb. Further down this page, About this kind of monument gives the whole of “Irish cairns and barrows”.
DatingSources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
The Atlas shows 3700 BCE to 2900 BCE for this site, but that is a regional estimate for this kind of monument, not a date for this particular megalithic mound. No excavation, radiocarbon sample or other measurement is recorded for it, so the real age could fall anywhere within the range, or outside it.
The range rests on this regional background (source: the Wikipedia article “Megalith”): Megalithic construction in Ireland is placed at c. 3700 BC (Knockiveagh) and c. 3400 BC at Newgrange; court cairns continued to be built and enlarged until 2900 BC.
Landscape and neighbours
No other catalogued site lies within 10 km of it. The nearest is Timoney Stones, 16.8 km to the north. In County Kilkenny, Ireland, 1 of the 6 catalogued sites are classed as megalithic mound.
The closest catalogued sites are Timoney Stones (16.8 km north, menhir); Wedge Tomb von Knockcurraghbola Commons (31.3 km west, dolmen); Knockcurraghbola Crowlands I und II (32.8 km west, dolmen); Loughbrack wedge tomb (36.0 km west, wedge tomb). The catalogue is assembled from open records and is not complete, so unrecorded monuments may lie closer.
Records and protectionSources for this section
Sources for this section
The open records used here carry no heritage designation for the site, which says nothing either way about its legal status. The open records for it are Wikidata (Q136593960), where corrections and further identifiers can be added. Access varies from open common land to private fields; check local access rules, ask where needed, and take care not to damage the monument.
How this page was madeSources for this section
Sources for this section
Nothing on this page was written by an AI model: it is assembled by program from Wikidata (CC0) and the regional article “Irish cairns and barrows”, written for the Atlas from the Wikipedia articles it cites (CC BY-SA 4.0), with distances and counts calculated from the catalogue coordinates.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish cairns and barrows
Ireland's hilltop cairns are among its most conspicuous monuments. Many of the great cairns are Neolithic passage tombs, built around 3000 BCE on hilltops: Heapstown Cairn in County Sligo is believed to cover a passage tomb and sits near the Carrowkeel cemetery, and Queen Maeve's Cairn on the summit of Knocknarea, about 55 metres across and 10 metres high, is the largest cairn in Ireland outside Brú na Bóinne. The latter has not been excavated, but its flat top and kerbstones are typical of a passage tomb.
Many cairns have not been excavated, and the large ones are dated by comparison with excavated passage tombs.
Folklore is rich. Medieval tales say that Heapstown Cairn is Carn Ochtriallach, built when the Fomorians filled a well of healing with stones in the story of the Second Battle of Moytura, and another tale makes it the burial mound of the prince Ailill. Knocknarea is Miosgán Meadhbha, Meadhbh's heap. In Ireland it is traditional to carry a stone up from the bottom of a hill to add to a cairn, and a Scottish Gaelic blessing says "I'll put a stone on your cairn". These are traditions, not evidence of who is buried.
When visiting, look for cairns on summits, for kerbstones at the base, and for the dip left by antiquarian digging. Visitor erosion of Maeve's Cairn has caused concern, so please keep to the paths.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Cairn, Wikipedia: Heapstown Cairn, Wikipedia: Knocknarea, Wikipedia: Mound of the Hostages, Wikipedia: Tumulus · CC BY-SA 4.0
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Photographs
3 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3700–2900 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megalithic mounds in Ireland; this site has not been dated itself. Megalithic construction in Ireland is placed at c. 3700 BC (Knockiveagh) and c. 3400 BC at Newgrange; court cairns continued to be built and enlarged until 2900 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 52°45′51″ N, 7°37′14″ WFor a GPS or map app: 52.76421, -7.62048
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- Menhir (standing stone)Timoney Stones4500–800 BCE
- DolmenWedge Tomb von Knockcurraghbola Commons4000–3000 BCE
- DolmenKnockcurraghbola Crowlands I und II4000–3000 BCE
- Wedge tombLoughbrack wedge tomb2500–2000 BCE
Ballinvir Standing Stone2800–1800 BCE
Knockroe Passage Tomb4200–2500 BCE
Lismacrory Mounds3700–2900 BCE
Newmarket Portal Tomb4000–3000 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q136593960wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Image files
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
- Timoney Stones17 km N
- Wedge Tomb von Knockcurraghbola Commons31 km W
- Knockcurraghbola Crowlands I und II33 km W
- Loughbrack wedge tomb36 km W
- Ballinvir Standing Stone39 km S
- Knockroe Passage Tomb40 km S
- Lismacrory Mounds41 km NW
- Newmarket Portal Tomb41 km SE
- Ashleypark Burial Mound43 km NW
- Passage Tomb von Baunfree43 km SE
Credit
Text, licence and sources
This page is assembled from open records (Wikidata, CC0; OpenStreetMap, ODbL) and a tradition article paraphrasing Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). No article exists for this site, and nothing here is written by a model.
- Wikidata Q136593960CC0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0
- en.wikipedia.orgCC BY-SA 4.0