Access to sites in Ireland

[kayakaddict]

I'm hoping to find someone with information about visiting sites, Cairns, etc. In Ireland. I'll be there the end of June. Specifically I plan to visit Creevykeel Court Tomb where ground axes and Flint blades have been found from the neolithic period. Will I be able to walk right up to or into places like that?

Thanks for anybody who knows or wants to recommend another site. Basically my trip will be a diamond shape: Dublin to Sligo to Aran Islands to Cork and back to Dublin over 10 days. My wife and I saved for a few years for this trip!
Evan

[painshill]

It’s a while since I visited, but I don’t think the access for Creevykeel has changed. It’s essentially free access via a very short walk along a rough path from the main road. You can touch and feel as well as go inside the small chamber itself without restriction. There’s no visitor centre, but there are information boards. There’s a pub called ‘Gorevan’s Bar’ just across the main the road, but I understand it’s “temporarily closed”. Not sure why, or when it might re-open.

Access at other sites varies, so you’ll need to individually check those that interest you.

Note that Creevykeel is a protected National Monument, so you can’t go collecting anything on the site. Have you discovered the Irish ‘National Monuments Service’ website? Here’s the link to the Creevykeel entry:
https://www.archaeology.ie/monument-...-tomb-co-sligo

Note the generic information that says: “All recorded archaeological monuments are protected under the National Monuments Acts 1930-2004. Visitors to monuments on lands in private ownership should request permission from the landowner.”

Enjoy your trip and be sure to tell us how it went.

[kayakaddict]

Thanks painshill, I did visit that site , and though it has nice photos I didn't see any instructions/rules etc. I found an email contact and someone did reply saying they will get back to me, so I wait. I'll be sure to follow up. Maybe some of the other links have information, but this is the only site I'm 100% sure to visit. I'll do some more browsing at that site and see what more I can find. Thanks.

[painshill]

You're welcome. If you haven't checked it out already, you might like to explore the 'Megalithic Portal' website:

https://www.megalithic.co.uk/asb_mapsquare.php

Here's the entry for Creevykeel:

https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=57

Note that each listing also details the location of nearby sites at the bottom of the page, with links to their entries.

[Uncle Trav]

Sounds like a dream trip for sure. Make sure to post about your trip when you get back. I always wanted to visit the old country.
👍👍👍

[Darby Dave]

You're going to love it. The friendly people are the best part. And don't forget the pubs. Oh yes, the scenery. And...well, you get the picture.

One place you shouldn't miss when you’re in Dublin is the National Museum of Ireland. I don't remember a lot of flint there but the bronze and gold artifacts are amazing. In Cork, you should probably kiss the Blarney Stone. Because that’s one of the first things people will ask you when you get back home.

Besides the major archaeological sites, Ireland has thousands of megalithic tombs, standing stones, ring forts, pilgrimage markers and other historic and prehistoric sites.
For someone interested in prehistoric sites, I highly recommend getting Ordnance Survey maps for at least some areas on your itinerary. They aren't cheap but all the sites mentioned above are located on them in red which makes it very easy to scan your route for interesting places to stop. When I was there in 2005, the OS maps were only on paper but I think there are downloadable versions now. I still prefer the paper maps because you can spread them out and get a full-detail overview of the entire region rather than just one tiny section at a time on your phone screen. When I was there, the paper maps were available at tourist information centers and most large gas stations.

The nicest thing about visiting the less touristy sites is that there's a good chance that you will be the only ones there, making it much easier to imagine what it was like several thousand years ago when the stones were fresh. When my wife and I spent one August day traveling down the west coast of Co. Donegal on our way back to Co. Mayo, we stopped at almost 30 sites and didn't have company at any of them.
These sites are all free and you can go right up to them. You could even crawl into the holes if you want. After all, you don't have to worry about snakes in Ireland.

I have attached of pictures of two of the megalithic tombs to show what you might expect to see. Pictures 1 and 2 are the Kilclooney Dolmen and the others are the Farranmacbride Court Tombs.
When I pulled up these pictures off the back-up drive, my first thought was "Dang! We sure did look a lot younger 18 years ago!" LOL

[CMD]

Sounds like great advice. My sister travels to Ireland now and then, and knowing my interest in megaliths, she always pulls over and snaps photos of the dolmens, etc.

[Tam]

Looks great . I am ready for a castle hunt in Scotland . When I move back to the mainland in 2 years .?