Labbacallee Wedge Tomb – Giants Grave

Ireland’s largest wedge tomb, Labbacallee, is eight km north-west of Fermoy. Wedge tombs form part of four megalithic monuments in Ireland including court tombs, portal dolmens and passage-graves. The Wedge tomb is particular to Ireland and considered the youngest of our Stone Age monuments.

Labbacallee Wedge Tomb, as the name suggests, is wedge-shaped. Three large capstones carried by three buttress stones form the outline of the tomb. Internally, the tomb is a long sub-rectangular galley divided into two sections – the portico to the front and the burial chamber to the back.

Labbacallee was excavated in 1934 with many human remains found. The finds included the remains of a female skeleton, with burnt animal bones, and a bone pin – used to secure the shroud in which she would have been buried in; cremated human bones and coarse pot shards, two burials, and three skulls with shards of coarse potter. Other burials were found in the portico area with a cist containing a burial and a possible food vessel. The radiocarbon date of the human remains is 2202-2138BC.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014