The easiest way to reach this site is from the car park at grid reference O 024 235. From there walk up hill through the woods until out reach a track and head north until you reach a t-junction. Turn left and follow the track to the right. The cairn can be seen to the right of the track and the tomb is in a field to the north of the cairn.
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Sitting in a field to the north of the plantation this cairn and tomb pair are a spectacular combination, despite the tomb being so ruined. The cairn is a massive 20m in diameter and 4m high. From the top it is easy to see the remaining orthostats of the tomb poking through the remains of the mound.
To the west of the chamber there is a significant banked circle that was possibly a courtyard.
Offering a spectacular view this place is a dream. Shame it's in a field fenced with barbed wire.
This morning's plan was to go to Lugg near Saggart Hill and watch the Lughnasadh sun rise above Howth. Unfortunately the pine plantation on Lugg itself is too dense to see this happen, so I went one better and came here. But first a little more about this little passage tomb ...
The passage is aligned northeast and so to the mid-winter solstice sunrise - another one to test out at some point. From here Howth can be seen in the notch formed between the hills of Lugg and Verschoyles Hill. Once again this seems to be another monument located so that Howth appears in a special way in the landscape. There are six orthostats to the passage and a sill stone can be seen at the northeast end.
This morning's sunrise was superb. As the sun peeked above the horizon at 05:39 it seemed to hover above Lugg just as I had thought it would do. I had made a slight miscalculation in its precise location though and was pleasantly surprised to see it rise right behind Ireland's Eye - the small island to the north of Howth. As the sun rose its reflection in the sea between DUblin and Howth was an impressive sight. Dublin has expanded to the east by at least a mile and 4000 years ago there would have been no land visible between the top of Lugg and Howth. Bearing this in mind, it would have looked as if there were two suns then - the false one appearing as a reflection between Howth and the top of Lugg ... very, very impressive!
After seeing this today I am in no doubt that this cairn and passage tomb were built here to mark this very special sunrise. I think it most probable that Lughnasadh festivals were held at this cairn in the past.
Images Click to Enlarge
Sunday, 1st August 2004 CE
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Sunday, 9th September 2001 CE
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Miscellaneous
The GPS coordinates for the cairn are O 01918 23692.
4.6km (E) is a artificial mound at Knockanvinidee. 1.9km (E) is a standing stone at Raheen. 8.1km (S) is a castle at Baile na dTri Chaislean (County Wicklow). 3.3km (NE) is a stone pair at Boherboy. 4km (S) is a standing stone at Tinode 1 (County Wicklow).
