The Labby Rock - one of Ireland's largest dolmens.

Click here to read about an art instillation utilizing the Labby, created by the landowner. Home Guided Tours Map Carrowkeel Cairn B Cairn G Summer solstice Cairn K Doonaveeragh Kesh Corran Caves of Kesh Kesh Cairn Heapstown Cairn Ardloy Sheereevagh Cairnanweeleen Treanmor Treanmacmurtagh Sheecor Second Battle of Moytura Shee Lugh

The Carrickglass Dolmen The Labby Rock or Carrickglass dolmen sits tucked in a shallow valley on the north end of the ridge of Moytura. The Labby is an impressively massive portal dolmen: with a capstone weighing an estimated 70 tons, it is among the largest of such monuments in Ireland. The huge capstone measures about 5 x 3 x 1.5 meters, and was probably raised on site, as there are two other massive chunks of rock near the dolmen. The capstone is a hunk of local hoary Moytura limestone with chert and magnesium which gives it a strange, rugged texture. It rests on four supports which seem far too slight to support it's massive bulk. You can see the well formed portal in the picture on the right. All four types of megalithic monument are represented: There is the ruined chambered cairn, Shee Lugh, on the ridge above; a wedge monument is about 600 meters further to the south, and a court cairn on the other end of the plateau. There were about 24 megaliths on this side of Lough Arrow, but most are in a sad state of repair, and many are gone. There is a fine bivalliate ringfort down the hill from the Labby. Lough Arrow has a well preserved range of medieval monuments including a ruined MacDonagh tower house and Ballindoon Abbey, on the lake shore, many crannogs and plenty of ringforts. Ballindoon translates as Town of the Forts and was the home of the MacDonagh chieftains. They probably had their inaugurations on top of Heapstown Cairn. The ridge of Moytura is one of the most important mythological sites in Ireland. The Second Battle of Moytura, the centre piece of Irish mythology is set here, and most of the monuments on the ridge are associated in some way with the Battle, such as the Eglone, below. The Labby is said in local folklore to be the grave of Nuada and Macha, where they were interred after being slain by Balor of the Evil Eye. This monument is located on the Historical Trail walking route, and is easily accessed by following the signs and path from nearby Cromleach Lodge - a hotel which takes it's name from the Labby. Wakeman's watercolour of the Eglone, a massive erratic standing stone at Highwood village. The stone was said to have been placed here by the Dagda during the Battle of Moytura. Others said it is a petrified giant. The drawing was done on the same day as the picture below. Orientation Unusually for monuments in this area, thre is no view from the Labby to Knocknarea Mountain, whch is hidden by a drumlin. The dolmen is facing south-east, the direction of the winter solstice sunrise, which is the place of rebirth in ancient Irish cosmology - see Newgrange for the best known example. The entrance of the dolmen is oriented to the cairn of Shee Lugh which sits on the highest point of Moytura, though a group of trees from a nearby farm obstruct the view to the cairn. This seems to be a feature of Irish dolmens, and parallels the view from the Drumadone Dolmen near Boyle, which is oriented to the cairn of Shee Gorey in the Curlew Mountains nearby. There is also no view from the dolmen to Carrowkeel, which lies just west across Lough Arrow. However, there are a number of ringforts in the fields nearby, which, though only a dozen metres higher offer amazing views of the surrounding landscape.

William Wakeman's 1879 watercolour of the Labby Rock.