One of the most distinctive features of Neolithic European architecture is the megalith. Megalithic—meaning “big stone”—describes the use of very large, unshaped blocks of stone as a principal component. In Ireland, court tombs are the earliest megalithic monuments: Neolithic farmers began constructing these monuments about 5,000 years ago. The term “court” comes for the open courtyard in front of the tomb. There are about 400 known court tombs in Ireland, most are found in the northern half of the island, primarily in counties Mayo, Donegal, Sligo, and mid-Ulster.
The distribution of the court tombs is shown in the map above.
Court tombs did not originate in Ireland, but are a part of a north European tradition of tomb-building which extends from Poland in the east to Britain and Ireland in the west.
The distinctive feature of the Irish court tombs is a roofless oval or U-shaped courtyard which sits in front of a covered gallery. The covered gallery—a burial vault—is divided by protruding stones into two, three or four chambers. The court usually is at the eastern end of a long trapeze-shaped cairn. The cairns can be up to 30 meters in length (approximately 100 feet), up to 14 meters (nearly 50 feet) wide at the front and seven meters (25 feet) wide at the rear. The entrance to the courtyard usually faces east.
The plan for a typical court tomb is shown above.
The court tombs had two basic functions. First, they were tombs: the gallery functioned as a sepulcher. Second, the courts were ceremonial areas in which long-forgotten rituals associated with the dead were performed.
Court tombs were generally built away from the residences of the builders and thus the archaeological record provides only a few clues as to the daily lives of their builders. The court tomb at Behy, County Mayo, however, has a nearby habitation site. This site includes pre-bog Neolithic field walls. Judging by the size of the fields, archaeologists have suggested that they were used to grow grass crops for animal husbandry.
The Céide Fields (shown above) is the site of one of the oldest known field systems in the world. Archaeologists estimate that these fields were first placed in use about 5,500 years ago. The fields were used before the bog developed. When the Neolithic farmers first came to this area, they had to clear hundreds of acres of pine forests to make way for their fields. These forests provided them with both building materials and firewood. The removal of the forest canopy, however, eventually led to the bogs which transformed the arable land into barren and unusable land. With the removal of the trees, rain could reach the ground where it eventually leached the soil of its nutrients.
The artifacts at Céide Fields show that the Neolithic farmers used wooden ploughs with a stone cutting edge for cultivating the fields. The ploughs were drawn by cattle (horses had not yet been introduced to Ireland at this time). The people lived in round houses which were about six meters in diameter and probably provided a home for a single family unit. There is no evidence of defensive structures or warfare at this time.
Another example of a court tomb is Annaghmare (shown above) in county Armagh. This archaeological site has a façade of large orthostats on either side of a central gallery. This gallery is aligned in a north/south orientation and consists of three linear chambers. At the northern end, there are two lateral chambers which appear to be later additions. Radiocarbon dating of material behind the blocking material suggests that the forecourt and entrance were sealed between 3100 and 2800 BCE.
There are some people who feel that the relative positioning of the façade stones at Annaghmare symbolize male/female. The third orthostat to the right of the gallery entrance is the largest, and to some people today it is seen as representing masculinity. On the other hand, the fourth orthostat to the left is set upon its narrower end which some modern observers feel represents a “top-heavy” female shape.
The court tomb of Magheraghanrush (shown above) in County Sligo is about 30 meters (100 feet) in length. The tomb has a 15 meter (50 feet) long oval court with a single gallery at the west end and two double chamber galleries at the east end. The tomb is known locally as Leacht Con Mhic Ruis.
The plan of Magheraghanrush is shown above.