Townleyhall passage grave is a

chamber tomb A chamber tomb is a tomb for burial used in many different cultures. In the case of individual burials, the chamber is thought to signify a higher status for the interred than a simple grave. Built from rock or sometimes wood, the chambers could ...

located around 2 km north of

Dowth Dowth ( ga, Dubhadh) is a Neolithic passage tomb located in the Boyne Valley, County Meath, Ireland. It is one of the three principal tombs of the ''Brú na Bóinne'' World Heritage Sitea landscape of prehistoric monuments including the large ...

tomb. It is part of the

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

ic complex of ''

Brú na Bóinne (; 'Palace of the Boyne' or more properly 'Valley of the Boyne') or Boyne valley tombs, is an area in County Meath, Ireland, located in a bend of the River Boyne. It contains one of the world's most important prehistoric landscapes dating from ...

'' in County Louth,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is located outside the

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

core area but (just) inside the buffer zone. Passage tomb, Townleyhall, Co

The site was originally a

Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...

settlement but was abandoned by its occupants, perhaps because it was a temporary site serving the construction project or due to the death of a senior member, and turned into a

passage grave A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or with stone, and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age, and are found largely in Wester ...

. Unlike its more famous neighbours in the Boyne valley, the tomb consists of a single chamber that merges with the entrance passage making it an undifferentiated passage grave. Townleyhall was excavated by

George Eogan George Eogan, MRIA (14 September 1930 – 18 November 2021) was an Irish archaeologist. He was born in Nobber, County Meath, and studied at University College Dublin (UCD) and then Trinity College Dublin. In 1965, he was appointed to a lectu ...

in 1962, work which found Carrowkeel ware pottery providing the first indication that Ireland's passage graves were of Neolithic date. Following this many of the other sites in the area were dug, although the methods used at the time would be considered crude by today's standards.

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Archaeological sites in County Louth Boyne culture World Heritage Sites in the Republic of Ireland Megalithic monuments in Ireland National Monuments in County Louth Burial monuments and structures in Ireland Tombs in the Republic of Ireland {{Ireland-archaeology-stub