Kilmashogue
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Kilmashogue (or Cill MochÃog in Irish) is a sacred megalithic site in Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin, Ireland on top of a mountain with the same name. The mountain is 1,339 feet (408 metres) high and is a national heritage site. It is believed the tombs date back to around 2000 BC.
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The megalithic tombs consist of massive rock slabs and boggles the mind how they were transported up the mountain and lifted into place.
It is believed that prehistoric man built the tombs on the top of Kilmashouge due to the perfect view over Dublin Bay and ease of spotting hostile persons. Local streams would have provided the local inhabitants with fresh water and forests near by would have had plenty of wild boar, deer and rabbit.
Clay pots and bones were some of the artefacts discovered when the tombs were excavated.
Kilmashogue is placed in thick woodland about 100 metres above a modern car-park on the Wicklow Way. It is a ruined Wedge-tomb with cairn. Several cists were inserted into the cairn at a later date. The roofless gallery is triple-walled, and the very high sill-stone between the antechamber and main chamber is another unusual feature in Irish Megalithic monuments. Chambered cairns are found a lot in Scotland. A standing-stone can be found to the east of the monument on the edge of a private road. 800 meters south west of the monument the ruined "Larch Hill" portal-tomb can be found, with remnants of a forecourt, substantial remains of its cairn, and one portal-stone standing about 3 metres tall. The other portal-stone has fallen and is lying beneath the roots of a tree. The fallen capstone is a slab around 2.4 metres square.
The cairn in Kilmashogue is robbed out and flattened. Several kerb stones remain in place as does the floor of the cairn.The surrounding ditch and bank can still clearly be seen although most have been a lot deeper. The gallery walls are still evident and these are double lined, usually a style found in wedge tombs. The entrance to the rectangular chamber faces directly towards the mound at Montpelier.
