LexiLine Journal #82 - 2002 : Gleninsheen Poulnabrone Revised Clare County Ireland Cancer Spinning Wheel

Welcome!

.

To our file folder on Ancient Ireland
I have uploaded new revised versions of the graphics

poulnabrone.gif
and
poulnabrone.tif

by adding some more spinning wheel parts to the spinning wheel and suggesting the capstone as a representation of a loom - though I know next to nothing about the art of weaving, so this is speculatively provisional.

Poulnabrone is one of the most popular megalithic tourist sites in all of Ireland.

Near it, at the Gleninsheen Dolmen, a gold gorget - the 31 cm Gleninsheen Gorget or Collar now in the National Museum of Ireland - was discovered in 1932.

As noted at Celtic Jewel:
http://www.celticjewel.com/jewelryorigins.html

"The Gleninsheen Gorget or the neck ornament is made from a solid sheet of pure gold. Gorgets are unique to Ireland.... The Gleninsheen Collar also has the distinction of being the logo of the Federation of Jewellery Manufacturers of Ireland."

A graphic of the gorget is found on that website page.

For the Gleninsheen Dolmen, I will be uploading

gleninsheen.gif
and
gleninsheen.tif

showing Gleninsheen Dolmen in County Clare to also represent the spinning wheel in the figures on the megaliths. Glen-in-sheen may have a root SHEEN, perhaps the Gaelic SHAOL "loom" and SNEEUANE "web" whence sneeuanee "cross-hairs" sneeuder "spinner" sneeuder cadee "cotton-spinner" and sneeuit "spun". This would appear to be similar to Latvian SHUJINA, diminutive "SEWN". In fact, the English SEWN is also still close as a term to SHEEN.

One additional new piece of information supports the decipherment of the Poulnabrone Dolmen.

Although I initially suggested a word root (s)poul-na-brone,

the name Poulnabrone

( see http://doolinclare.port5.com/northclare/northclare4.html and
http://www.doolin-accommodation.com/megaliths.html)

allegedly comes from the Gaelic Poll na Bron meaning "hole of the quern" and this alleged root fits perfectly for this site, putting it at the center of the spokes of Cancer, and since quern
means "hand-mill for milling grain" we see it also anciently could have meant spinning wheel, here driven by foot, with the head of Hydra as the pedal.