Bremore & Gormanston Passage Tomb Complex - By Brendan Matthews

The photo attached depicts one of the last remaining Kerbstones of the large Passage Tomb which was known as the ‘Sacred Mount of Knocknagin’. This particular five-thousand-year old burial tomb was opened up and investigated by the Antiquarian George Alexander Hamilton, of nearby Balbriggan, in the year 1840. Following the excavation of the tomb, a memorandum from G.A. Hamilton giving details of this tomb were read at the Royal Irish Academy in 1846. The following is an extract from this report.

‘Excavations were carried out with the consent of Lord Gormanston, the landlord. The mound was made of small round stones or shingle from the shore. A circle of large stones similar to those lying on the shore were found buried in the sand and shingle at some distance from the centre of the mound. ‘

‘Within this outer circle of stones we found, on what appeared to have been a floor of beaten clay, a large quantity of burnt human bones, apparently of persons of different ages: we found amongst them the bones of very young children.’

‘In the centre of the circle was a chamber constructed of immense flags, some of them more than 1.8m in height; and within this a rude stone of sandstone grit, with a cavity or hollow formed in it.’ This basin ‘bore evident marks of fire’, and had a quantity of charcoal and burnt bones surrounding it. ‘Amongst these bones we found some beads, made of polished stone, in shape conical, with a hole through each, near the apex of the cone.’

Photo by Brendan Matthews