Legananny Dolmen is a megalithic

dolmen A dolmen () or portal tomb is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of two or more upright megaliths supporting a large flat horizontal capstone or "table". Most date from the early Neolithic (40003000 BCE) and were somet ...

or cromlech nine miles southeast of Banbridge and three miles north of

Castlewellan Castlewellan () is a small town in County Down, in the south-east of Northern Ireland close to the Irish Sea. It is beside Castlewellan Lake and Slievenaslat mountain, southwest of Downpatrick. It lies between the Mourne Mountains and Slieve C ...

, both in

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, Northern Ireland. It is on the slopes of Slieve Croob near the village of Leitrim, in Drumgooland parish, nestled between the farmer's stone wall and a back road. It is a State Care Historic Monument sited in the townland of

Legananny Legananny (believed to be ) is a townland north of Leitrim, Northern Ireland. It contains the ancient Legannany Dolmen which has stood for between 4000 and 4500 years. It is made up of three large stones standing upright with a very large s ...

, in Banbridge District, at grid ref: J2887 4339. This tripod dolmen has a capstone over 3m long and 1.8m from the ground. It dates to the Neolithic period, making the monument approximately 5,000 years old. Such portal tombs were funerary sites for the disposal of the dead in Neolithic society. The heavy stones would have been dragged some distance before being set in place. The three supporting stones are unusually long and there are slight traces of a cairn which must have been far more extensive. Some urns were found underneath. The name ''Legananny'' is derived

Gallery

File:Legananny Dolmen (08), December 2009.JPG, Legananny Dolmen, December 2009 File:Legananny Dolmen (14), December 2009.JPG, Legananny Dolmen, December 2009 File:Legananny Dolmen (11), December 2009.JPG, Legannany Dolmen, December 2009 File:Legananny Dolmen (16), December 2009.JPG, Legannany Dolmen, December 2009 File:Legananny Dolmen (13), December 2009.JPG, Legananny Dolmen, December 2009

References

{{Commons category, Legananny Dolmen Archaeological sites in County Down Dolmens in Northern Ireland