King Orry's Grave is the largest

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. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...

ic tomb on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. It is situated in

Minorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the is ...

, in the northern part of the village of

Laxey Laxey () is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Man. Its name derives from the Old Norse ''Laxa'' meaning 'Salmon River'. Its key distinguishing features are its three working vintage railways and the largest working waterwheel in the wo ...

, partly in a private cottage garden. It is some 4000 to 5000 years old; however the reference to King Orry is to the 11th century local ruler

Godred Crovan Godred Crovan (died 1095), known in Gaelic as Gofraid Crobán, Gofraid Meránach, and Gofraid Méránach, was a Norse-Gaelic ruler of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Dublin, Dublin and the Kingdom of the Isles, Isles. Although his precise parentage h ...

, who has a number of supposed burial places. The modern name likely dates to the early 19th century. King Orry's Grave is a

Manx National Heritage Manx National Heritage () is the national heritage organisation for the Isle of Man. The organisation manages a significant proportion of the Island’s physical heritage assets including over 3,000 acres of coastline and landscape. It holds pro ...

site.

Description

The

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

tomb comprises two separate chambered sections. Like

Cashtal yn Ard Cashtal yn Ard ''(Castle of the Heights'') is a Neolithic chambered tomb in Cornaa, in the parish of Maughold in the Isle of Man. It is situated on a low hill overlooking much of the surrounding parish of Maughold and across to the Lake District ...

, the structure is a multi-chambered Clyde cairn of coloured sandstone. The north-eastern facing eastern part of the tomb is semi-circular with a diameter of 12 m and a depth of 4 m. The eastern section is a row of three burial chambers covered by a trapezoidal-shaped cairn. A U-shaped forecourt and slab façade are linked by dry stone walls and two portal stones. The chamber may have been larger, but was destroyed in the 19th century during the construction of a road and a house. At the western end there is a separate

cist In archeology, a cist (; also kist ; ultimately from ; cognate to ) or cist grave is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. In some ways, it is similar to the deeper shaft tomb. Examples occur ac ...

-like structure, excavated in 1930, with a

menhir A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Br ...

. As the central section is not extant, it is unclear whether this is part of the same structure as the construction of modern housing has made excavation difficult. The massive stone slabs that make up the chambers were of local stone. A second chamber was later built and at the south-west end, a horseshoe shaped forecourt was added. Only stumps of the original standing stones survive, except for one remaining tall stone. These standing stones likely formed part of a

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

of rubble that covered the burial chambers, similar to those found in the north of Ireland and south-west Scotland.

References

History of the Isle of Man Historic sites in the Isle of Man Tourist attractions in the Isle of Man Buildings and structures in the Isle of Man {{IsleofMan-struct-stub