Dolmens Are a Girls Best Friend

'Browne's Hill' : Portal Tomb

TownlandKernanstown
CountyCarlow
Grid RefS 745 768
GPSS 75445 76843 (12m)
Longitude6° 52' 49.2" W
Latitude52° 50' 14.29" N
Nearest TownCarlow (2 Km)
OS Sheet61
UTM zone29U
UTM x642777.07307631
UTM y5856277.3184787
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Visit Notes

Sunday, 26th August 2001

What a sight this amazing portal tomb is. As you approach it via a footpath from the car park, it stands in the center of the field looking like a tiny, grey creature skuttling across the field, but frozen in time. Then, when you realise that the little specks moving about are people and not sheep, the scale of this dolmen hits you.

Estimated at weighing over 130 tons the capstone is said to be the largest in Europe. It is certainly the largest I have ever seen.

There is a pleasant seating area laid out around it, but sadly has only concrete benches. None the less, it is a pleasant place for a picnic. Three Italian girls were doing just that when we visited. My kids really enjoyed running around, in and out of the mighty chamber that has an internal height of over 2 m.

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All Sites Visited On 26th August 2001    « Previous Site    Next Site »

Sunday, 4th November 2001

I revisited this site to have lunch and take some better photo's. It started raining as I arrived and so I had my sandwiches sitting inside the chamber .... magic!

All Sites Visited On 4th November 2001    Next Site »

Sunday, 14th April 2002

As we arrived here we saw several kids climbing over the enormous capstone. As we got close they left and we had the place to ourselves for a while. Then some older teenagers turned up and kind of ruined the moment. Time to leave this monster to act as a climbing frame and move on.

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All Sites Visited On 14th April 2002    « Previous Site    Next Site »

Friday, 27th September 2002

I am so happy that I brought my torch with me, because it was pitch black when we arrived here with just the spooky glow of the Carlow street lights behind it . Looking at it just by shining the torch over it turns it into a different monument. It looms even more massively when viewed like this.

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All Sites Visited On 27th September 2002    « Previous Site

Saturday, 6th May 2006

What better place to test out my new 10-20mm lens than at this monster! It's alway a pleasure to visit this amazing monument anyway, but on such a beautiful day the experience is doubled. The cows milling around were also appreciated as they added some scale.

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All Sites Visited On 6th May 2006    « Previous Site    Next Site »

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Old Images

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Directions

Take the R726 from Carlow and follow the signs to "Browne's Hill Dolmen". There is a dedicated parking space by the side of the road. To access the dolmen there is a path around the edge of the field.

Random Gazetteer

A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments

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8.1 Km (SE) there is a Artificial Mound at Ballynunnery.
9.1 Km (ENE) there is a Bullaun Stone at Ballycook.
9.6 Km (SSE) there is a Bullaun Stone at Ballintrane.
3.5 Km (ESE) there is a Bullaun Stone at Busherstown.
9.1 Km (NNE) there is a Round Tower at Castledermot (Co. Kildare).

A Selection of Other Portal Tombs

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