Sligo’s Neolithic tombs are being vandalised ‘on scale never seen before’
Experts say 5,000-year-old monuments will not survive unless action is taken
Pádraig Meehan surveys the damaged Teach Cailleach a’ Bheara passage tomb in Ballygawley, Co Sligo.
Five-thousand-year-old Neolithic tombs in Co Sligo are suffering damage and vandalism “on a scale never seen before” and will not survive unless action is taken immediately, archaeological experts have warned.
There are 75 passage tombs in Co Sligo, almost one-third of the estimated 240 in the State, according to the Sligo Neolithic Landscapes Group, which is pressing for the county’s Neolithic heritage to be deemed a World Heritage Site by Unesco.