Firstly, I had the pleasure of recently talking to a man at Lisnakill who some years back, made the discovery of a Bronze Age Cist in his front garden.The Cist contained a double burial representing the remains of two adults, at least one of which was male. Also found in the tomb was a fully intact Urn which is commonly found with such burials. This artefact is now housed at the National Museum of Ireland. Following a full excavation, the tomb was filled and there is now nothing visible at ground level.

Meanwhile, myself and a friend spent a sunny afternoon at Knockaturnory on the slopes of Croghan Hill, not far from the village of  Fews. Here we were in search of a possible Stone Row. However, after several hours combing the area, we failed to locate the stones. A return visit may be planned sometime in the future. However, Raheens (below) was a site which proved to more fruitful. Here, a single standing stone is located in a gentle valley where on first appearance it doesn’t look any different than other monoliths in Waterford. However, close by, embedded in the ground was second stone which is most likely to have originally formed a Stone Pair. With the kind permission of the landowner, I was able to clear away a lot of the grass covering the stone. In so doing, I was able to get a better picture of the stone’s profile.

On a bright ad breezy Sunday morning. I made a visit to Harristown Passage Tomb. Here I managed to get a few new photos of the monument. Part of my time over the last few weeks was spent researching an article about Archaeologist Jacquetta Hawkes who excavated the Harristown site in 1939. You can read the piece in the ‘Articles’ section of the website.

Lastly, after a second attempt, I did manage to locate the Ballygarran Cross Inscribed Stone (below). It had been so heavily overgrown that I failed to find it last time, but luckily on this occasion I did manage to spot it deep amongst the growth.

In the next few weeks I intend to update Knockeen and Gaulstown dolmens with new photographs and  extra descriptions. I also plan to visit and photograph some of the collapsed tombs in the county.

In the meantime I will be adding some more new sites to the website’s database and hopefully researching further articles for publication on the site. As always, contributions to Prehistoric Waterford are very welcome. Just email in your photos or items.

http://www.prehistoricwaterford.com/

Autumn, or Fall as it is known in America, is practically over now and although it hasn’t  been particularly cold here in Waterford, there has been very little in the way of nice crisp sunny days that we normally associate with this time of year. Despite the weather, which has been mainly damp and wet, I did manage to get round a few places.

Among the places and sites I visited were Comeraghmountain (above). Here, in the company of my “stonehunter” friend Pat, I ascended  the mountain from the eastern side  of the Comeraghs where it’s a steep climb up from the village of Kilrossanty, past the landmark religious cross which dominates the horizon and then out onto the open moor above. During the walk we came across an interesting dry stone enclosure under the foot of the mountain. The afternoon was spent just ambling and exploring the area and taking in the exhilarating fresh air of the wild and wide open spaces of the region.

On a foggy afternoon in early October I made a return visit to “The White Lady” standing stone at Ballymacaw. This  intriguing stone is so wonderfully located right beside the sea cliff  and always questions the visitor as to why it was erected there.

More recently, after getting some new photos of the ‘Mauma’ standing stone (right), I descended towards Kilbrien to visit the Araglin Archaeological Complex which lies below the western slope of the same mountain. Here, I was  fortunate to meet up with a very helpful and knowledgeable local man who had spent many years exploring this area which is of national and international importance with its plethora of archaeological remains. For the average visitor to the valley it can be quite difficult to locate the monuments here such as Hut Sites and Kerb Circles, as they are quite ‘low key’ and sometimes quite obscured by bracken and heather growth. However, by late afternoon and thanks to my guide, I was delighted to have seen many of the intriguing collection of prehistoric remains which obviously tell us that this broad valley was once home to a substantial settlement of people.

In the early days of October I visited the Tramore Burrow. Here by the beach in the shelter of the sand dunes, one finds a Cooking Area/Refuse Dump where a spread of burnt shells and stones indicates the place where the early settlers cooked their bounty of seafood. Some refer to this spot as this their ‘picnic’ place. However, I doubt if there were rugs, picnic baskets and windbreaks then!. What we do know, is that the evidence we see there are the basic signs of daily survival for those early settlers of Tramore so many thousand years ago.

Within the next few weeks  I hope to explore more areas of the Comeragh mountains and also pay a return visit to a farmer who promised me he had some interesting stones for me to have a look at – I look forward to that.

http://www.prehistoricwaterford.com//