Seefin Passage Tomb

Seefin Passage Tomb
Native name Tuama Pasáiste Shuí Finn (Irish)
Location in Ireland##Location relative to County Dublin
Type	Passage grave
Location	Scurlocksleap, Blessington, County Wicklow, Ireland
Coordinates	53.186267°N 6.394809°W / 53.186267; -6.394809
Area	Wicklow Mountains
Elevation	621 m (2,037 ft)
Height	3 m (9.8 ft)
Built	c. 3300 BC
Location of Seefin Passage Tomb in Ireland Show map of Ireland Seefin Passage Tomb (County Dublin) Show map of County Dublin
National monument of Ireland
Official name	Seefin
Reference no.	317[1]

Seefin Passage Tomb (Irish:Tuama Pasáiste Shuí Finn) is an empty passage grave and National Monument located atop Seefin hill, County Wicklow, Ireland.[2]

Location

Seefin Passage Tomb is located atop Seefin in the Wicklow Mountains, just south of Kilbride Army Camp. Nearby Seefingan and Seahan mountains also have cairns atop them.[3]

History

The tomb was built circa 3300 BC, during Ireland's Neolithic. It was excavated by R. A. Stewart Macalister in 1931, but no artefacts or human remains were found, suggesting that no-one was ever buried there, or that the remains were later removed.[4]

Description

The tomb is a stone cairn, 24 m (79 ft) in diameter and 3 m (9.8 ft) high. There are large kerb stones around the base of the tomb and the tomb has a passageway 7 m (23 ft) long, which opens into a chamber with five compartments. There are some carved decorations in lozenge shape, carved lines and quartz.[4][5]

Gallery

• 
  Carved cross inside Seefin tomb
• 
  Entrance doorway
• 
  View from chamber looking outward
• 
  View from above
• 
  The tomb is visible from afar on the summit, as is its sister cairn on Seefingan
• 
  Hillwalkers approaching the tomb, midwinter 1998
• 
  The tomb on a clear day

References

Media related to Seefin Passage Tomb at Wikimedia Commons

1. "National Monuments of County Wicklow in State Care" (PDF). heritageireland.ie. National Monument Service. p. 3. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
2. "Time Travel Ireland: Seefin Passage Tomb, County Wicklow".
3. Jackman, Neil (20 July 2013). "Hidden Ireland: The mystery of the 5,000-year-old empty tomb on top of a Wicklow mountain". The Journal. Ireland. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
4. "Seefin Passage Tomb, Sunday 21st April 2013".
5. "County Wicklow - selected monuments".