Magheraghanrush Court Tomb
Also known asMagheraghanrush Tomb
Datedc. 3050–2950 BCE
Photo NiallPFlynn · CC BY-SA 4.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Magheraghanrush Court Tomb is a court cairn and National Monument in County Sligo, Ireland, 6 km (3.7 mi) east of Sligo. It was built c. 3000 BC.
The tomb is very large, 30 m (100 ft) long, and it may have begun as a simple construction with a U-shaped court, to which the east part was added later.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Age sources
How old this site is, and who says so.
Range across all claimsc. 3050–2950 BCE
EstimatedWhat this badge means
A reading of this site: what its style says, or a statement published about it.
- 3050–2950 BCEPublished sourceThe source gives an approximate construction date. The source gives one year, so it is shown as a 100-year window (D-08).Source: en.wikipedia.org
- 3000 BCEWikipedia: Magheraghanrush Court Tomb (infobox)Source: en.wikipedia.org
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.
Article
Magheraghanrush Court Tomb
The court is oval and lies in the centre, with two chambers at one end and a single chamber at the other, which gives the tomb the appearance of a man when seen from above.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Magheraghanrush Court TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Magheraghanrush Court TombCC BY-SA 4.0
The court is oval and lies in the centre, with two chambers at one end and a single chamber at the other, which gives the tomb the appearance of a man when seen from above. The central court is not a perfect oval but is crooked in the middle, indicating that there was originally one court cairn to which another was then added. Some of the uprights had lintels, which gave the monument the name "the Irish Stonehenge".
ArchaeologySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Magheraghanrush Court TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Magheraghanrush Court TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Unburned animal and human bones were discovered on the site, as well as a flint flake.
FolkloreSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Magheraghanrush Court TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Magheraghanrush Court TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Local legend holds that the monument is a Giant's Grave or Druid's Altar, or the burial site of Eógan Bél, King of Connacht. The Middle Irish poem Caithréim Cellaig, however, says that he was buried on Knocknarea and reburied on an island in Lough Gill.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Magheraghanrush Court TombCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Magheraghanrush Court TombCC BY-SA 4.0
A court cairn or court tomb is a type of chambered cairn identified by an open, uncovered courtyard connected to one or more roofed burial chambers. The courtyard is usually oval or circular, and its boundary is typically lined with large standing stones. A narrow stone-lined entry leads from the court into the roofed chambers. Many monuments of this kind were built in several phases.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish and Scottish court tombs
A court cairn or court tomb is a type of chambered cairn identified by an open, uncovered courtyard connected to one or more roofed burial chambers. In the period 3900 to 3500 BCE more than 390 court cairns were built in Ireland and over 100 in south-west Scotland, where they are called Clyde cairns or Clyde-Carlingford cairns. The Clyde cairns are generally considered the earliest chambered cairns in Scotland, and they are distributed from the Solway Firth area north to the southern Hebrides. Many monuments were built in several phases and later reused in the Early Bronze Age.
The courtyard is oval or circular, with U-shaped and semicircular courts also known, and its boundary is typically lined with large standing stones. A narrow stone-lined entry leads from the court into the roofed chambers. At Creevykeel in County Sligo, the first court cairn excavated in Ireland, Harvard archaeologists worked in 1935 and concluded that the Neolithic in Ireland began in 3900 BCE, more than a hundred years before the first appearance of court tombs, and that court tombs were widely reused in the Early Bronze Age. Excavations at court tombs have yielded cremated and unburnt human bone and round-bottomed pottery.
In Scotland, Cairnholy in Dumfries and Galloway is the site of two chambered tombs of the Clyde type on a hillside overlooking Wigtown Bay, 4 kilometres east of Carsluith; the two lie within 150 metres of each other.
Court tombs are dated by radiocarbon dates of the bone they contain and the pottery.
When visiting, look for the standing stones of the forecourt and the entrance to the chambers.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Court cairn, Wikipedia: Chambered cairn, Wikipedia: Cairn Holy, Wikipedia: Passage grave · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 3000 BCE
Magheraghanrush Court Tomb was built c. 3000 BC.
Source
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
3050–2950 BCEHow this date was established: Stated by the sourceThe source gives an approximate construction date. The source gives one year, so it is shown as a 100-year window (D-08).Source for this date
Measured facts
- Mainstream position
- The source reports the monument as a court cairn built around 3000 BC, while the poem Caithréim Cellaig places Eógan Bél's burial at Knocknarea and his reburial on an island in Lough Gill.Source: Mainstream position
- Site type
- court cairnSource: Site type
- Heritage designation
- National Monument of IrelandSource: Heritage designation
- Location
- County Sligo, IrelandSource: Location
- Possible initial form
- a simple construction with U-shaped courtSource: Possible initial form
- Later addition
- the east partSource: Later addition
- Archaeological finds
- unburned animal and human bones and a flint flakeSource: Archaeological finds
Alternative claims
Alternative claims about this site, kept in their own block and labelled with where they stand.
The monument is a Giant's Grave or Druid's Altar.
UntestedSource for this claim: The monument is a Giant's Grave or Druid's Altar.
The monument is the burial site of Eógan Bél, King of Connacht.
DebatedSource for this claim: The monument is the burial site of Eógan Bél, King of Connacht.
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 54°16′46″ N, 8°22′52″ WFor a GPS or map app: 54.27933, -8.38111
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.
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Carns Cairn3700–2900 BCE
Abbeyquarter North Tomb3400–2900 BCE- CistKnocknashammer Cist
- DolmenWedge Tomb von Aghamore4000–3000 BCE
- Passage tomb (passage grave)Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery W-M 9a3400–2900 BCE
- Court tomb (court cairn)Cummeen Court Cairn3750–2900 BCE
Cloghagadaide
Listoghil3095–1955 BCE
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q1884051wikidata.org
- 02Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org
Image files
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Lore, kept apart
Legends and claims
These are stories and claims reported by the sources. They are not evidence, and they never stand in for the dating above.
- Tradition
Magheraghanrush Court Tomb was built c.
Magheraghanrush Court Tomb was built c. 3000 BC. It may have first been a simple construction with U-shaped court; the east part was added later. Local legend has it as a Giant's Grave or Druid's Altar, or the burial site of Eógan Bél, King of Connacht, although the Middle Irish poem Caithréim Cellaig says he was buried on Knocknarea and reburied on an island in Lough Gill. Unburned animal and human bones were discovered on the site as well as a flint flake.
Source - Tested: not supported
The monument is a Giant's Grave or Druid's Altar.
Source - Tested: not supported
The monument is the burial site of Eógan Bél, King of Connacht.
Source
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Magheraghanrush Court Tomb" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors