Kilmogue Portal Tomb

On the south-eastern slopes of Carricktriss Gorse hill, about seven kilometres north-east of Mullinavat, stands Ireland's tallest dolmen, known locally as Leac an Scáil, the Hero's Stone, five metres from its base to the top of the capstone. Portal tombs like this were built between 3800 and 3000 BC, and fewer than two hundred survive in Ireland. Here a massive granite capstone, five metres long and veined with quartz, rests on a lower roof stone and on two portal stones over three and a half metres high, with a door stone at the front, and the tomb runs north-east to south-west to face the midsummer sunrise. OPW points out that its shape changes completely as you walk around it, which makes the tomb a piece of sculpture as much as architecture. Reviewers find it far bigger than they expected and the setting quiet, with good views south; it is signposted from the road and reached by a short grassy path, but the lanes in are narrow with few passing places.