The Giants Grave Traditional Cache
Taisce: It's been muggled again and it always happens when I'm unable to maintain it.
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The new cache has no room for trade items- just a logbook and a pencil stub or bring your own pen. It's not a micro in the woods though ;) You'll see when you find it. (updated 4.4.17)
This is our first cache. The Giants Grave is situated in the Slieve Bloom Mountains, in the heart of the midlands. The views are beautiful and there is a wealth of Irish heritage within a stones throw from here. We hope to place more caches soon, to reflect more of the local history.
The terrain is quite good for the first while, but then gets quite steep and off the beaten track.
When at the grave, be careful with children or animals, as there is a stream and the banks are quite steep. The cache has been placed in a safe place...NOT near the water or steep drops.
The cache is small, but there should be room for small TB's and geocoins.
Sorry Guys! I got the first DNF notification yesterday and high-tailed it up there with friends straight away today to check. Sure enough-there has been work going on and it is gone :( We looked for a suitable place for the replacement cache and had to go 200m back down the trail until we found one that looks safe. I hope this one stays put! If you come out for this one, please do continue to the Grave and have a look around xxx
Known locally as the 'Giants Grave' this monument was first described in the nineteenth century when it was recorded as a burial tomb consisting of seven or eight boulders.
Unfortunately the tomb was disturbed by treasure hunters in the eighteenth century leaving it in the ruined condition which one finds it today. The present remains consist of the upright side stone box or cist with three displaced stones lying around the surface of the tomb.
This burial practice of placing human remains inside the cist has a long tradition in Ireland and appears to have emerged into the Bronze Age and later. The skeleton is often placed inside the stone box in the foetal position accompanied by pottery and other grave goods.
According to local tradition a gold spur was found in the 'Giants Grave', and this may have been an original grave good placed alongside the body as part of the ritual associated with the burial. Several legends have been recorded about the death of Bladh, a warrior chief who died in this mountain range with the 'Giants Grave' being the traditional resting place of this warrior. Legend has it that a battle was fought here in 3000BC, where Bladh, the warrior chief was killed and a cairn of stones was raised to his memory and so the mountains became known as the 'Sliabh Bladhma' or Bladh's Mountain. Another legend describes Bladhma, a Connaught hero, son of Conn Ceadathach, who killed an important western chief named 'Bregmeal'.
As a result Bladh took refuge in the surrounding mountains where he was later slain in a revenge attack. Both of these traditions record the local belief that the 'Giants Grave' is the resting place of a warrior chief named Bladh whose name is preserved forever in the mountain range surrounding his burial site.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gur frpbaq ynfg gerr orsber gur pyrnevat qbja ybj
Treasures
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