Cairns Hill
Cairns Hill , about 1.2 miles south of Sligo in County Sligo, is a lesser-known Neolithic landscape in Ireland . Cairns Hill is a double hill with the 123 m high west and the 112 m high east summit. The peaks carry two huge Neolithic cairns with unopened, undisturbed passage tombs .
From the west hill you can see Sliabh Da Ean, Knocknashee, Doomore, Croghaun, Knocknarea in the west and the Ben Bulben in the north. The east hill is in the thick forest. The lake Lough Gill is located east of Cairns Hill and the River Garavogue flows around the east side of the hill.
The East Cairn
The massive cairn is covered with trees ( sycamore , ash and hazel ) and scrub. It is about 45.0 m in diameter and 10.0 m high. It is made of chunks of limestone and was likely covered with quartz . The hill was cut down in 2004, but it is overgrown again.
The Westcairn
The west hill lies behind brush and gorse in a swampy pasture. The cairn is about 35.0 m in diameter and 6.0 m high and a little more dilapidated. The stones are also made of limestone that was probably mined nearby. There is a large niche in the west that could be the remains of a quarry. Small round curb stones made of gneiss can be seen especially on the southeast side under the mound.
Swedish archaeologist Stefan Bergh examined the cairn in the early 1990s and found a large boulder that could be a fallen menhir that could be part of a hard-to-see row of stones on the north side. Bergh also noted that there is a low platform around the cairn, parts of which can be clearly seen on the southwest side.
All of the major megalithic sites in County Sligo have caves nearby. At the Cairns Hills there are two, one near each of the Cairns. The cave at Ostcairns is worth seeing, about 5.0 meters deep and big enough to stand upright. It is located on a cliff overlooking the Garavogue River. A layer of silica slate runs through the roof of the cave.
See also
literature
- Stefan Bergh: Transforming Knocknarea - The Archeology of a Mountain. Archeology in Ireland 52, 2000, 14-18.
- Stefan Bergh: Knocknarea - the ultimate monument. Megaliths and mountains in Neolithic Cúil Irra, North-West Ireland. In: Chris Scarre (Ed.), Monuments and Landscape in Atlantic Europe. London, Routledge 2002.
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 15 '11.9 " N , 8 ° 27' 22.3" W.