An Irish Adventure: Archeology Field Trip #2

For this field trip we were supposed to start our day at Labbacallee Wedge Tomb, then head to Glanworth Castle, have lunch in Cashel and end the day at Rock of Cashel. I was excited because after the weather we had the first trip, the weather on Saturday was going to be amazing! It was still a little chilly but no rain! Which was grand.

We started our day at Labbacallee Wedge Tomb which is one of the biggest wedge tombs in Ireland. Wedge tombs date to between 2500-2000 BC and are from the Chalcolithic period where copper mines were beginning to appear in Ireland. Pretty much it is a big rectangular stone structure that has side stones and capstones with three different chambers within it. The side stones are also three layers of stones thick. The largest of the three capstones weighs in at 10 tons and was set in place using only man power. Pretty amazing. There is normally a cairn (blanket of small rocks covered in dirt) over but this has deteriorated over time, some evidence of this remains, mainly a large piling of stones by the tomb. It is also likely that the walls built near the tomb probably took advantage of the easily accessed rocks from the cairn.

Inside the tomb

This area was probably part of the tomb, and then collapsed

View from the back of the tomb

Attempting to get the entire tomb in one picture

After Labbacallee, we got back on the bus and headed to Glanworth Castle. Our professor freaked us out a bit before we got off the bus because he told us that we had to stay on the foot path because there was a "fast moving river" and that we should watch out because the steps up to the castle would be "a bit slippy". Well it turns out that this fast moving river was probably less dangerous than the river right outside our apartment building, and the stairs were very wide and dry and there was no reason to be nervous, but I guess it is his job to make sure no one dies on the field trip, so is understandable.

Glanworth Castle was originally built in the 13th century probably by an Anglo-Norman family, but then switched hands by the Medieval Period. There is a central building that looks like a towerhouse like we saw on our last field trip, but is smaller and is called a keep. Different than a tower house is that there is a large yard area and a big curtain wall to protect it. Within this yard, there were probably many smaller buildings like a great hall. This was not only a castle for the nobility of the area, but it also acted at the court and the jail for the area and those who were sentenced to serve time in the jail which was virtually a hole in the ground with a grate over it. We were able to climb all over the castle and see the different areas, except for within the keep itself, which probably looked like a giant stone box anyway.

The Keep

Next we had lunch in Cashel at a small pub. Of course our food took forever and so we were a few minutes late meeting back up with the group. When we got to the group, we were told that the Rock of Cashel was closed due to high wind, especially since there was scaffolding as part of the restoration.

Instead of the Rock of Cashel, we hiked down the rock and went to Hore Abbey that was across the road a ways. While we were waiting in the group at the Rock of Cashel, one of the guys from our group, Patrick, who had decided to come to the Rock on a day trip wandered up. Since he was missing out on the Rock of Cashel too, we told him to just filter in with our group and come to the Abbey with us. The abbey was originally Benedictine and they had an area called the Refectory, just like at St. John's, everyone else looked really confused and all of us just looked at each other and laughed. The Abbey was eventually turned over to the Cistercians and now is in ruins. It was interesting to see a Benedictine Abbey from the Medieval Period.