Wedge Tomb von Kilmaclenine

The townland name is Irish Cill Mhic Léinín (“Mac Léinín's church”). The tomb lies in the remains of a large, presumably round mound of earth and stone, with a maximum diameter of 36.0 m.

The chamber sides are two long slabs. The east end is closed by an inserted end stone 1.3 m long, 0.45 m wide and 1.65 m high, which leans inwards. The side stones fall in height from west, the access side, to east. The chamber is about 2.2 m long inside and decreases in height and width from west to east: it is about 1.5 m wide and 1.7 m high in the west and about 1.4 m wide and high in the east. The chamber floor has been dug away, exposing the base of the northern side stone. This stone is about 3.0 m long, 0.35 m wide and 1.9 m high. The stone opposite is 3.2 m long, 0.25 m wide and 1.85 m high. The inner face of the left wall is reddish, perhaps because of different minerals, and the right wall has a row of cup marks. The capstone, about 3.0 m long, 2.15 m wide and 0.3 m thick, rests only on the side stones.

R. R. Brash (1817–1876), architect and archaeologist and from 1870 president of the Cuvierian Society of Cork, described the tomb in 1853. He noted that the huge mound was highly unusual for a wedge tomb and could be a secondary feature. He wrote that local farmers had carted away material from the mound and that its maximum height had been about 5.5 m.

Rev. Thomas Olden (1823–1900) reported in 1881 that the mound had been opened about 60 years earlier and that a skeleton with a sword at its side and some beads had been found in the chamber. In 1913 Colonel James Grove White (1852–1938) passed on in his “Historical Notes” a report from Dr. Caulfield stating that bone fragments, a bronze sword and a bead or amulet had been found in the chamber.