![]() “It would appear that this repair has now failed with a small portion of the capstone becoming unattached.” It had been repaired in the 1990s, they said. The Office of Public Works’ spokesperson said its workers had inspected the dolmen. “With that stone, you’d get a bruise, and the bruise would be white.” He wanted to photograph the fragment to check if there were any impact marks, he says. The morning after his wife had noticed the break, Kavanagh ventured out to see for himself. Last Friday, the faded track marks were still visible beside the Neolithic tomb. Knockmaree Dolmen with broken wedge and track marks. Alongside it was a set of pronounced track marks from a piece of machinery. She took photos showing the hefty wedge on the ground. “When she came home, she said there’s a lump after being knocked off the cromlech.” Kavanagh’s wife spotted it while out walking their dogs on the first Saturday morning in February, he says. And at the corner where the latest break occurred, its absence was evidenced by a jagged square scar, silvery blue with pale yellow blotches.Ī wedge of the capstone has come clean off. They lit a little fire underneath and kept throwing sticks on the fire, and it cracked the whole thing.”Īcross the monument, other hairline cracks are visible. That, Kavanagh says, occurred in the 1970s. One of the splits, right down its centre, had been mended with concrete. The thin frost on the grass was thawing as he scaled the slim and steep path leading from Park Lane up to Knockmary Lodge.Īcross the surface of the dolmen’s L-shaped capstone were cracks. On Monday morning, Kavanagh ascended Knockmary Hill to survey the dolmen. It represents the people of Chapelizod.” Was It Knocked or Did It Fall? “It’s important because it’s not just a stone. “We had asked the OPW to put a little fence around it,” he says. Members of local history and neighbourhood groups have been asking the OPW since the 1990s for better protection of the ancient site, he says. But they didn’t say how the stone became unattached again earlier this month.ĭespite being the oldest identified human-made structure in the Chapelizod area, until now, it has been vulnerable to damage, says Peter Kavanagh, a member of the Chapelizod Heritage Society. The fencing now up is an interim security measure after a chunk of the dolmen’s capstone broke off, says a press spokesperson for the Office of Public Works (OPW). Made up of a heavy limestone slab, laid across five smaller rocks, and supported by a concrete block, the landmark is about four feet long, two high, and – save for the more recent additions – around 5,000 years old. The dolmen – or cromlech – resembles a rugged, irregularly shaped park bench. Inside the temporary enclosure were four yellow parking cones and a wrap of red and white tape. On Friday, in the southwest corner of Phoenix Park, overlooking Chapelizod, three panels of steel fencing stood around the Knockmaree Dolmen. ![]()
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