Proleek Dolmen is an excellent example of a portal tomb and dates from at least 3000BC. It has 2m high portal stones at the front, a small stone at the back, and perched on top is a huge capstone weighing 36-40 tons.
The tomb is also called The Giants Load and legend has it that you will be granted a wish if you throw a stone and it stays on the top. Another legend is that if the stone stays on top you will be married within a year.
100 yards away is a wedge tomb, so called because of it’s shape – wide at the front and tapering in towards the rear. This one still has a large capstone in place across the top of the narrow end of the tomb.
Wedge tombs are the most numerous type of megalithic tomb in Ireland but are not so common down the eastern side of the country.
The tombs can be accessed via a signposted path from the car park at Ballymascanlon Hotel ( I can recommend the hotel – it is excellent!). It’s a very pleasant walk past the gardens and old stables at the back of the hotel, down a lane and then quite a long walk on a path across the golf course (there’s screening in places to prevent you being hit by golf balls).
Rambles to Relics 
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