Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta
DatedEst. 2500–2000 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
What the sources say
Das Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta liegt im Townland Ballinphunta (irisch Baile an Mhóta) auf dem Friedhof von Craughaun in Cratloe, östlich des Owenagarny River einige Kilometer nordwestlich vom Stadtzentrum von Limerick, im County Clare, in Irland. Wedge Tombs (deutsch „Keilgräber“), früher auch „wedge-shaped gallery grave“ genannt, sind doppelwandige, ganglose, mehrheitlich ungegliederte Megalithbauten der späten Jungsteinzeit und der frühen Bronzezeit.
Das Wedge Tomb liegt in einer runden, leicht erhöhten Einfassung aus Trockenmauerwerk und ist der Wiederaufbau einer für die Gattung typischen Anlage wurde 1902 (posthum) von William Copeland Borlase (1848–1899) beschriebenen. Die Steine, insbesondere der einzige Deckstein von etwa 2,8 m × 2,3 m, sind besonders groß. Erhalten ist im Wesentlichen die innere Struktur, bestehend aus sieben Tragsteinen und dem Deckstein. Der zweite Deckstein fehlt. Gut erkennbar ist die doppelte Keilform (Breite und Höhe) der Silhouette.
Article in GermanRead on Wikipedia3 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
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
Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta: the whole story
In briefSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von BallinphuntaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von BallinphuntaCC BY-SA 4.0
The Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta stands in the Townland Ballinphunta (Baile an Mhóta) on the cemetery of Craughaun in Cratloe, east of the Owenagarny River and a few kilometres northwest of the centre of Limerick, in County Clare, Ireland.
It is a reconstruction of a monument typical of the type, set within a round, slightly raised enclosure of dry-stonework. The inner structure survives in its essentials, including seven supporting stones and one capstone measuring about 2,8 m × 2,3 m. The second capstone is missing, while the distinctive double-wedge profile remains clearly visible.
Wedge Tombs are double-walled, corridor-less and generally unsegmented megalithic monuments of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. The Ballinphunta tomb is dated by typological estimate to 2500 BCE to 2000 BCE. William Copeland Borlase (1848–1899) described it in 1902, posthumously. Its unusually large stones are a notable feature.
Such tombs are also known as wedge-shaped gallery graves, a name reflecting the narrowing of the burial chamber in both height and width, usually from west to east. More generally, Irish gallery graves were probably community burial places used by family or hamlet groups. The information does not identify any particular local legend or burial associated with this monument.
No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the German article "Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta", shown in the original language.
Summary in EnglishSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von BallinphuntaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von BallinphuntaCC BY-SA 4.0
Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta is a wedge tomb in Ireland. A typological estimate: 2500 BCE to 2000 BCE. No English Wikipedia article exists for it; the full text below is the German article "Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta", shown in the original language.
How this page was madeSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von BallinphuntaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): Wedge Tomb von BallinphuntaCC BY-SA 4.0
The summary at the top of this page was written by MiniMax-M3 (2026-11-08) from the cited Wikipedia article “Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta”, translated from German. The numbers in it were checked automatically against the source text. The rest of the page is the article itself, the structured records and computed distances.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish wedge tombs
A wedge tomb, or wedge-shaped gallery grave, is a type of Irish chamber tomb. It takes its name from the way the burial chamber narrows at one end, usually decreasing both in height and in width from west to east, which gives it a wedge shape in profile. An antechamber is separated from the burial area by a simple stone slab. Wedge tombs are one of the four categories of megalithic tomb described by the Irish scholars Seán Ó Nualláin and Rúaidhrí de Valera in their survey of 1961: court cairns, portal dolmens, wedge-shaped gallery graves and passage tombs.
A gallery grave is a megalithic tomb in which the main gallery is entered without first passing through an antechamber or hallway. The gallery graves of western Europe were probably community burial sites, in which family or hamlet members were laid to reinforce the sense of community. Gallery graves can be covered with an earthen mound or a cairn, and there are at least four major types: complex, transepted, segmented and wedge-shaped.
Wedge tombs were built between the Irish late Neolithic and the middle Bronze Age, about 2500 to 2000 BCE. Between 500 and 550 survive, mostly in the west and north-west of Ireland. A distinguishing feature is the double walling of the gallery. They were often covered by round, oval or D-shaped cairns, usually about 1.5 metres high, with a kerb, and are generally found on mountainsides, about three-quarters of the way up. The doorway generally faces west.
When visiting, look at how the walls narrow towards the back of the tomb and at the double wall of the gallery.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Wedge-shaped gallery grave, Wikipedia: Gallery grave, Wikipedia: Bell Beaker culture, Wikipedia: Passage grave · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1902
Das Wedge Tomb liegt in einer runden, leicht erhöhten Einfassung aus Trockenmauerwerk und ist der Wiederaufbau einer für die Gattung typischen Anlage wurde 1902 (posthum) von William Copeland Borlase (1848–1899) beschriebenen.
Source
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 2500–2000 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for wedge tombs in Ireland; this site has not been dated itself. Wedge tombs were built between the Irish late Neolithic and middle Bronze Ages about 2500 to 2000 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 52°42′13″ N, 8°46′17″ WFor a GPS or map app: 52.70373, -8.77148
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)Knappogue Stones2800–1800 BCE
- Wedge tombBallyhickey Wedge Tomb2500–2000 BCE
Magh Adhair3700–2900 BCE- Wedge tombWedge Tomb von Newgrove2500–2000 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)Lough Gur Standing Stone1010–770 BCE
Grange stone circle3300–2500 BCE- Megalithic tombLough Gur Tomb3750–2900 BCE
Graves of the Leinstermen2800–1800 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q15853788wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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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
Such tombs are also known as wedge-shaped gallery graves, a name reflecting the narrowing of the burial chamber in both height and width, usually from west to east.
Such tombs are also known as wedge-shaped gallery graves, a name reflecting the narrowing of the burial chamber in both height and width, usually from west to east. More generally, Irish gallery graves were probably community burial places used by family or hamlet groups. The information does not identify any particular local legend or burial associated with this monument.
Source
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Text from the Wikipedia article "Wedge Tomb von Ballinphunta" (German), 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