Rathfranpark Wedge Tomb | |
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Native name Irish: Tuama Dinge Pháirc Ráth Bhrannaibh | |
Type | wedge-shaped gallery grave |
Location | Rathfranpark,
Killala, County Mayo, Ireland |
Coordinates | 54°14′31″N 9°15′09″W / 54.242008°N 9.252568°W |
Elevation | 26 m (85 ft) |
Built | c. 2500–2000 BC |
Official name | Rathfranpark Wedge Tomb |
Reference no. | 633 |
Rathfranpark Wedge Tomb is a wedge-shaped gallery grave and National Monument located in County Mayo, Ireland. [1] [2]
Rathfranpark Wedge Tomb is located 4 km (2.5 mi) northwest of Killala village, overlooking the Palmerstown River and Killala Bay.
This wedge tomb was built c. 2500–2000 BC, in the Copper or Bronze Age. [3] [4]
A stone circle once stood close to the tomb until the 1950s, when the stones were uprooted and dumped onto the wedge tomb. [5]
The tomb has a gallery over 3 m (9.8 ft) long and 2 m (6 ft 7 in) wide, with side walls composed of boulders up to 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) high. The gallery axis is ENE-WSW, so the ENE end points towards the rising sun at the summer solstice. [6] [7] [8]