The Ballykeel Portal Tomb or Dolmen is a Neolithic burial site, dated between 4000 - 2500 BC. It is a classic example of a tripod portal tomb and is known locally as "The Hag's Chair", associated with the Cailleach, the Mythical Goddess of Winter, who legend says flew down from her home on Slieve Gullion to sit here on her "Throne". The Dolmen has a huge granite capstone which is supported by two large upright portal stones and a back stone, above an octagonal burial chamber. A low door stone between the two portal stones blocks the entrance to the chamber underneath.
The dolmen has been re-errected as the backstone had split and the capstone fell from its position. It was re-erected around 1963 when excavations were being carried out, the backstone was repaired with a special cement and the capstone was replaced on the upright stones.
The dolmen stands at the southern side of a 30 meter long stone cairn, of which only two lines of stones running parallel still excist. The northern side of the cairn contained a Cist. Different types of pottery which included decorated bowls were discovered in the chamber during excavations as well as Neolithic pottery, a Javelin head and flint flakes being discovered in the Cist. High levels of phosphates were also discovered in the chamber floor, indicating ancient burials.
This is a Mystery Cache, there is nothing at the posted coordinates except a handy place to park, you must solve the puzzle in order to get the final coordinates. Click the link bellow and complete the puzzle in the given 204 piece size, a message with coordinates and hint will appear on completion.
Ballykeel Dolmen Puzzle
There is easy access to the Dolmen via a style next to the gate a short walk from the parking coordinates. There is no need to access the site in order to retrieve the cache but it's well worth going in to have a closer look.