placenamesSess Kilgreen
Seisíoch Chill Ghrianna
Prehistoric stone carving gives Sess Kilgreen a place in the study of Ireland’s passage tombs.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Seisíoch Chill Ghrianna · Irish · main form · validated name
- Sess Kilgreen · English · main form
Place & story
A tomb below Shantavny
The Sess Kilgreen passage tomb lies below the higher burial sites on the slopes of Shantavny. Andrew Cochrane’s archaeological study describes a many-sided chamber and a short passage on its north-eastern side. The monument belongs to a landscape of prehistoric burial places around this part of Tyrone, although its surviving form and the evidence available from it differ from those of its neighbours. [2]
Carving and early investigation
Father J. Rapmund was the first recorded excavator of the tomb. George Coffey later published an account, and the site’s carved stones became a subject for further archaeological recording. Anthony Weir’s field gazetteer identifies worn lozenge patterns and overlapping concentric circles on the chamber stones. Such decoration makes the monument more than a surviving stone chamber: it also preserves examples of prehistoric image-making. [2] [3]
Testing beside Omagh Road
In 2017 Ciara MacManus investigated a proposed development beside Omagh Road in Sess Kilgreen. The site lay close to a separate monument, TYR 052:009, considered possibly prehistoric. Targeted trenches within the development area revealed no archaeological deposits. That negative result applies to the tested ground; it does not remove the evidence provided by the nearby recorded monuments. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Tyrone
- Barony
- Clogher
- Civil parish
- Errigal Keerogue
- Coordinates
- 54.47572, -7.05891 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 1414278 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Sess Kilgreen. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Irish Passage Tombs: Neolithic Images, Contexts and Beliefs (2006), page 290 · Andrew James Cochrane, Cardiff University
- Sess Kilgreen, County Tyrone: field gazetteer · Anthony Weir, Gazetteer of Irish Prehistoric Monuments
- 2017:722 Omagh Road, Ballygawley–Sess Kilgreen · Ciara MacManus, FarrimondMacManus Ltd.
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2012-01-26. How this page was prepared.