Tomb Raiding in the Dublin Mountains

The trip starts in Marlay Park at the College Road car park, adjacent to the M50 motorway. If you have parked in the Grange Road car park, you will need to cross the park (about 2km) to reach the start.

The initial sections of the trail follow the same route as the Wicklow Way, marked by yellow "walking man" waymarkers.

Passing under the M50 motorway, the trail follows Kilmashogue Lane uphill.

There are a number of places of interest along the way including the ruins of a former woolen mill owned by Thomas Thorncliff until it closed in 1880 and Saint Columba's College, an exclusive boarding school for boys.

The wedge tomb is found in the woods above the Kilmashogue Forest Recreation Area car park. There is a trail through the trees directly opposite the steps that lead up from the car park.

Wedge tombs date back to the Bronze Age and are so called because of their shape: tall and broad at the front, narrowing and sloping down towards the back. They usually consist of two or more chambers, divided by stone slabs, surrounded by a double-walled gallery and covered by a cairn of stones.

The Kilmashogue tomb consists of two chambers. The main chamber is 4 metres long by 1.5 metres wide and is surrounded by a triple-walled gallery. This is an unusual feature: most wedge tombs are double-walled.

At some point during the Bronze Age, the tomb was partially dismantled and three stone-lined cists were inserted into the cairn. One cist has had its capstone moved aside so that the burial chamber is visible. The tomb was excavated in 1953 and a Bronze Age cinerary urn and two food vessels were found in the cists.

To continue the trip, retrace your steps back to the car park and then continue to follow the Wicklow Way into the forest.

Up to now, the trail has been following the path of the Wicklow Way. At this junction, the Way turns right but we need to continue on straight to reach the summit of Three Rock mountain.

The trail emerges from the forest near the summit of Three Rock Mountain where excellent views over Dublin may be enjoyed. On particularly clear days it is possible to see as far north as the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland. On rare occasions the Snowdon Massif in Wales can be made out. (The distinctive V-shape of the Llanberis Pass is the easiest way to distinguish the real thing from the banks of sea fog often mistaken for the Welsh mountains.)

The summit of Three Rock is dominated by the many radio and television masts that broadcast programming to the city below and also by the three rocks that give the mountain its name. It was once thought that these were man-made features, great altars used by our primitive ancestors for human sacrifice. Today it is known that these are natural rock formations called tors, formed over thousands of years by the process of weathering.

Although natural, the tors are not untouched by the hand of man. At the top of the central tor is a small bowl-shaped depression, known as a bullaun. Many such examples can be found around Ireland. The precise purpose of these hollows is not known. It is believed they may have been used for grinding. Some have superstitious associations that drinking the water accumulated in the bullaun can cure ailments.

Adjacent to the bullaun is a series of depressions in the rock, which also appear to be man-made. I have not been able to find out any information about them and it may be they are modern, although there is some similarity with the rock art at the wedge tomb at Ballyedmonduff, which is our next destination.

From here, the trail follows the route of the Dublin Mountains Way, marked with yellow "walking man" way markers, as far as the wedge tomb at Ballyedmonduff.

At this junction, the trail makes a side-trip, following the Dublin Mountains Way, to visit the wedge tomb at Ballyedmonduff. Follow the waymarkers into the forest until it reaches a substantial forest road. Turn right, following the waymarkers along the road as it circles around to the left. After a short while, the wedge tomb can be seen to left in a clearing in the forest. If you reach a break in the forest and you can see out over the Glencullen golf course, you have gone too far.

There is a herd of deer in this forest and if you tread carefully and quietly enough, you may be lucky enough to spot some of them.

This wedge tomb, known as the Giant's Grave, is in a much better condition than the one previously visited at Kilmashogue and is considered to be one of the best examples of such a tomb in Ireland.

When first discovered in the 1830s and before it was excavated, it would have been covered with a tall mound of stones, or tumulus. These have been removed, exposing the interior of the tomb. It consists of a burial gallery over 6 metres long, divided into three chambers - an antechamber, main chamber and end chamber - surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped arrangement of stones, flat at the western (entrance) end. The main chamber and the end chamber are divided by a narrow stone slab with a series of cup marks on the upper surface. This form of rock art is unusual in a wedge tomb, being more generally associated with the earlier Neolithic period. It is suspected that the marks are older than the tomb and the stone was brought to this site to decorate it. An excavation of the site in 1945 found shards of pottery, tools and evidence of cremated remains.

Retrace your steps back to the Dublin Mountains Way junction described in POI number 6.

Returning to the Dublin Mountains Way junction used to reach Ballyedmonduff, turn left off the trail. After a short while you will pass through a fence and out of the forest onto open mountainside. Turn right and ascend towards Fairy Castle.

As you approach Fairy Castle, as the summit of Two Rock Mountain is known, note that the summit cairn is sited upon a flat circular mound, approximately 25 metres across and 2 metres high. This is the remains of an ancient passage tomb, the easternmost of a series of of such tombs that are found on the summits of many of the Dublin Mountains such as Montpelier Hill (location of the Hell Fire Club), Slievethoul, Seahan and Seefin. It has been speculated that this series of tombs had a territorial marking function. The Fairy Castle tomb has mostly disappeared beneath the peat bog and the partial collapse of the edges of the tomb means the entrance is no longer visible. The tomb has never been excavated but is believed to contain a small burial chamber connected by a narrow passage, similar to but on a smaller scale than the world-famous complex at Newgrange.

From Fairy Castle, the trail rejoins and follows the Dublin Mountains Way towards Tibradden.

Another prehistoric burial site can be found close to the summit of Tibradden mountain. The tomb was excavated in 1849 when a stone-lined cist was found with a pottery vessel containing cremated remains.

It was once believed to be a passage tomb and it's not hard to see why, since all that remains is a circular chamber connected to a narrow passage. However, conservation work done in the 1950s revealed the chamber and passage to have been created following the original excavation of the site. It also appears that at one stage a stone bench was placed in the centre for the convenience of visitors. It is now known that this site is a Neolithic chambered cairn with a cist burial in the centre.

Within the chamber is a stone with a carved spiral pattern. It is most likely that this is not an original feature.

The trail follows the Dublin Mountains Way into the Pine Forest where it leaves the Way and follows first Tibradden Lane and then Mutton Lane to reach the village of Rockbrook.

In a field near the village of Rockbrook are two standing stones, each about two metres tall.

Return to Marlay Park along the Tibradden Road. Be very careful of the traffic along this busy stretch. There are a few blind corners along the way which require particular attention.