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Fourknocks passage tomb is located on one of several ridges running east west between the River Nanny and the River Delvin in County Meath. The tomb is located on the northern side of the broad ridge where the ground falls abruptly towards the valley which separates it from Bellewstown ridge. The entrance to the tomb is north/north east facing with views north up to Slieve Gullion and Slieve Donard and along the coast up to Carlingford. The tomb mound as we view it today is a reconstruction based on the findings from the excavation of the tomb in the early 1950s undertaken by Patrick Hartnett.
The mound is 19m in diameter and delimited by a low dry-walled kerb. The tomb is a cruciform in shape with a short passage which may have been unroofed opening to the large central chamber with three recesses. The lintels over both the south and western recesses are decorated with art. Another decorated lintel stone is now just to the right as you enter the chamber. Excavation evidence suggests this may have served as a lintel over the entrance passage. Two free standing stones left and right are also decorated.
The excavation uncovered deposits of cremated bone in the three recesses. Stone hammer-pendants and beads, pins and beads of bone were also recovered. A fragments of deer antler carved with chevrons was founding the south recess.
The outline of a post hole was also uncovered close to the centre of the chamber. Whilst there is evidence for a corbelled roof at Fourknocks, it is thought, given the amount of stone recovered and the tomb dimensions, that unlike Newgrange that the tomb did not have a complete corbelled roof and perhaps this post served as a support for a roof of organic materials. The excavation also produced evidence for the deliberate blocking of the entrance passage using stone and some bone of the entrance passage as the final act in the sealing of the tomb.
Subsequently the tomb was used in the Bronze Age for burial. Middle Bronze Age burials were uncovered at Fourknocks by the excavation consisting of five cists all containing unburnt infant burials and three food type vessels were found with some traces of skeletal material.
Two Middle to late Bronze Age cinerary urn cremation burials were also found in pits dug into the top of the mound.
East of the Passage tomb is the site known as FourKnocks II also excavated in the early 1950s and dated to the Neolithic which served as a cremation site.
Excavations by Heather King at the highest point on the Fourknocks ridge a half kilometre to the east of the Passage Tomb uncovered a series of pits and post holes. Some of the pits contained grooved ware pottery attributed to the late Neolithic. Lithics, charcoal and cremated bone were also uncovered, possible evidence of ritual activity.
Bibliography
- Hartnett, P. J. 1956/57. Excavation of a Passage Grave at Fourknocks, Co. Meath. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies,History, Linguistics, Literature, Vol. 58, pp. 197-277.
- Hartnett, P. J. and O'Sullivan, W. 1971. The Excavation of Two Tumuli at Fourknocks (Sites II and III), Co. Meath. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies,History, Linguistics, Literature,pp. 35-89
- King, H.A. Cross, S. Lanting, J. Brindley, A. Buckley, L.Synott, D. Norton, J. Brindley, J. 1999. Excavation on the Fourknocks Ridge, Co. Meath. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies,History, Linguistics, Literature, Vol. 99C, No. 5, pp. 157-198
- Cooney, G. 1997. A Tale of Two Mounds: Monumental Landscape Design at Fourknocks, Co Meath Archaeology Ireland, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 17-19
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