Proleek Dolmen IV - northeast view
Ireland

by

Michael Stephen Wills

Proleek Dolmen IV - northeast view
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Proleek Dolmen IV - northeast view
This is the only ancient monument in Ireland were a stray golf ball may be encountered. This 5,000 year old dolmen, or portal tomb, is named for the Proleek Townland. In these times it is surrounded on three sides by the Ballymascanlon Hotel golf course. The “entrance” to the tomb, through the two upright portal stones, faces northwest toward Slieve Gullion, a mountain with its own Neolithic burial site next to a lake on the summit. The mountain and the flat land, such as Proleek township, feature in the story of how the Irish hero Cú Chulainn came by his name. Some describe the formation as a giant mushroom with warts. The “warts” are stones. There is a local saying that success in placing three stones on top will give a wish or lead to marriage within the year.
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