Toormore Dolmen, West Cork

by Sublime Ireland

Title

Toormore Dolmen, West Cork

Artist

Sublime Ireland

Medium

Photograph - Photograph

Description

Take a moment to gaze at this deeply evocative scene. Now imagine yourself standing at this exact spot on the Irish Atlantic coast on a warm summer evening 4,500 years ago.

How different would it look? The answer of course is not very different at all. These ancient stones would be catching the last rays of sunlight exactly as they do to this very day.

While the world changed and vast empires rose and fell, this enduring scene has remained unchanged since before the dawn of recorded history.

This is an altar wedge tomb which overlooks Toormore Bay in West Cork. It is said to date from the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age.

As the name indicates, it was originally a pre-historic burial site. But during the period of the Penal Laws in the 16th and 17th centuries it was used as a Christian altar for the clandestine celebration of mass.

The tomb sits in a partly secluded roadside location overlooking the ocean, seven kilometres west of the charming village of Schull on the way to Mizen Head.

Uploaded

August 4th, 2020

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