This huge hilltop cairn, on the top of Knocklayd Mountain, almost certainly contains a passage tomb, but there are no external signs of an interior structure. It is over 3m tall and about 20m in diameter. Most of the stones that form it are covered by a layer of peat and tough grass, but on the south and west sides the prevailing winds have exposed the stones and a large section of the huge kerb.
Oddly, the kerb is not formed by stones that are set into the ground, but that are lying against the slope of the cairn itself.
On a good day the views from here would be spectacular. Today I was in a hail and snow storm on the summit and so could not enjoy them. The climb up from Ballycastle Forest to the east is straight forward, but steep with several false summits that make you think you're nearly there only to make your heart sink when another climb is revealed.
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
Baur South (Co. Clare) | Hill Of Uisneach (Co. Westmeath) | Cloghoge (Co. Wicklow) |
Slievenabawnogue (Co. Dublin) | Cairn Y (Co. Meath) | Cairn R1 (Co. Meath) |