A Megalithic Dolmen

Continuing up R480 after our stop @ the Carran Church ruins, we found ourselves driving through land that was inhabited as far back as the New Stone Age ... if not beyond. The people who farmed on the plateau back then lived in impermanent houses. The tombs they built, however, were quite substantial. A number of them have survived to this day as markers for sacred places. The Poulnabrone Dolmen is one of them.

This megalithic portal tomb, which dates back over 5,000 years, is considered a Burren geo site. It sits on a limestone karst plateau and is one of two such tombs in the Burren. Its name means “hollow of the millstone.”

The tomb consists of two tall portal stones with a capstone. The entrance leads to a stone-lined rectangular chamber (closed to visitors). A low, oval-shaped cairn of loose stones stabilizes the structure.

When the fractured capstone of this dolmen had to be replaced in the late 1980s, the tomb was excavated to reveal the remains of 33 individuals — from infants to adults — and the personal possessions with which they were buried.

As fascinating as the tomb was, the landscape in which it sits is perhaps more so. The ground is covered with patches of grikes (ditches) and clints (blocks separating the grikes). These are classic elements of the karst landscape for which the Burren is known. It was fun to wander around in this landscape, hopping from block to block ... seeking out and finding colorful flowers, especially wild thyme, which grows in abundance.Read more