Kilclooney Dolmen

While I was doing my research on the sights here in western Donegal. I found out that there is a dolmen or portal tomb in the area. I always found places like these fascinating. I know that it is not like the Stonehenge which is world famous, but this is probably the closest thing I can get to see the real thing. Actually, they can’t be any more different. Stonehenge is more a ceremonial area while Kilclooney’s Dolmen is a tomb. It seems that there are quite a number of these places in Ireland and I was surprised to know that there is one in western Donegal. This site is accessible via path beside the church and walking past a house while making sure avoiding their garden.

The path to the dolmen is straightforward after that while passing through a couple of gates. There is a small muddy area you need to cross, otherwise the dolmen site is dry. The dolmen is an impressive structure made of two supporting stones which forms the portal and a massive stone slab which covers the tomb. This tomb is dated to be around 4000 and 3000 BC. I’m surprised something like this isn’t that well known. It is supposed to be one of the finest examples of portal tombs in Europe. It seems to be very stable as I seen people climb up the cap stone without issue. I just hope that people would pay this place more respect and at least try not to disturb the site.

[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/KilclooneyDolmen.kmz} zoom=19]