As with Cairn E I did not visit this cairn today but could at least see it from cairn K. It doesn't look too promising and has a wall built right over it.
All Sites Visited On 16th March 2003 « Previous Site Next Site »
Being the northern-most of the monuments here this seemed like a good place to start. From a distance this just looks like a pile of stones with a wall built over it, but there is actually a passage remaining. This passage is rather ruined and is partially filled with rubble, but the orientation is very clear. It points at a small depression in the hills past Kesh.
The passage is on the north side of the wall. On the south side is a large cist-like chamber with the capstone just slightly displaced.
The view today was breathtaking. To the north Maeve's Cairn (County Sligo) was clearly visible on Knocknarea. Benbulbin and beyond into Donegal was clearly visible. The view to the west past Kesh went as far as Nephin (excuse my spelling) and Croagh Patrick far off in Mayo. I don't think there are many views as spectacular as this anywhere. You certainly see why this place was deemed special by the ancients.
More mystery is added to the place when you realise how many sink-holes there are that disappear down into the limestone below the peat. In several places you can s the tops of trees that are growing in the deep pits that are scattered around. These caves wee probably seen as gateways into an underworld, where the sounds caused by water rushing through tunnels below must have seemed very strange.
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
Knockroe (Co. Kilkenny) | Sheemore (central tomb) (Co. Leitrim) | Carriglong (Co. Waterford) |
Seefin Hill (Co. Wicklow) | Glasnamullen (Co. Wicklow) | Montpelier (Co. Dublin) |