Proleek Dolmen

Proleek is a portal tomb of around 3000 BC whose capstone is estimated at some forty tonnes, resting on three slender uprights in a way that looks impossible and has held for five thousand years. Local tradition calls it the Giant's Load, from a story about a Scottish giant, Parrah Boug MacShagean, who carried the stone to Ireland to challenge Fionn mac Cumhaill and is said to be buried under the wedge tomb a short distance away. A folk custom holds that if you land a pebble on top of the capstone and it stays, you will be married within the year - which is why the top is covered in small stones, and why the practice is discouraged by archaeologists, since the accumulated weight and the throwing both do damage. The site sits behind the Ballymascanlon House Hotel and the marked path crosses its golf course, so watch for play.

History

The dolmen dates from the Neolithic, around 3000 BC, and was used for burials of cremated remains, often with grave goods such as tools, beads and pottery; its portal may be aligned towards Slieve Gullion. Legend says the Scottish giant Para Buidhe Mór Mhac Seoidin carried the stone here to challenge Fionn mac Cumhaill (Wikipedia, Proleek Dolmen).

The main sights

• The capstone - around forty tonnes on three thin uprights.
• The wedge tomb - a second monument a short distance away.
• The pebbles on top - the marriage custom, and its accumulated damage.
• The setting - a field behind a hotel, crossed by a golf course path.

When to go

April to October. The path is muddy in wet weather. Golf is in play across the route - stay on the marked path and give way.

Good to know

Access crosses private hotel and golf course grounds - ask at the hotel and follow the marked route. Do not throw stones onto the capstone; it damages a five-thousand-year-old monument. No facilities at the site.

Nearby

Dundalk is south; the Cooley peninsula and Carlingford are north-east.

Key facts