The Altar Wedge Tomb, Co. Cork

The altar wedge tomb is located at Toormore Bay in the immediate vicinity of the Wild Atlantic Way. The megalithic tomb was built here at the end of the Stone Age (ca. 3000 to 2000 BC).The finding of bones suggest that the tomb was a sacred place for many centuries. Although the ancient rites disappeared with the arrival of Christianity, the complex was again used for rituals in the 18th century. This time it was priests who used the capstone of the tomb as an altar, at a time they were forbidden to hold mass in churches.