Loughcrew

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Loughcrew Cairns
Rock carving in the Cairn T
Corridor of Cairn T

Loughcrew ( Irish Loch Craobh ) is a civil parish and a townland in County Meath, Ireland .

Loughcrew Cairns

The Loughcrew Cairns ( Irish Cairn Loch Craobh or Cairn Sliabh na Caillí ) are a complex of Passage Tombs . It is located on the mountain range Slieve na Calliagh ( Irish Sliabh na Caillí , English "the hill of the witch"), which forms the highest range of hills in County Meath . The remains of around 25 (from once 32) graves ( stone mounds ) have been preserved. There are megalithic systems in it, some of which are engraved .

Cairn groups

The Cairns can be divided into three groups, each is located on its own hill in a townland of the same name, with the exception of the more disturbed, nearby Passage Tomb in the neighboring townland of Thomastown.

  • "Carnbane West" ( An Carn Bán Thiar ), the densest group with around 13 sites, including the Cairns G, K and L.
  • "Carnbane East" ( An Carn Bán Thoir ), comprises ten Cairns and includes the large and well-preserved "Cairn T".
  • "Patrickstown" ( Baile Phádraig ), the smallest group with five sites.

The Cairn G is chamberless. Cairn K and T are dolmens with side chambers , as they are e.g. B. can also be found in West Kennet Long Barrow or in several plants in the Morbihan department in Brittany such as Mané Keriaval . A central aisle with either two, four or six more or less closed side chambers at the head end and symmetrically on both sides. The ceilings of the Cairns are designed as cantilever vaults . Cairn K has a menhir inside. Cairn T has a straight corridor made of 4 preserved side stone pairs. In front of the last pair, a transverse stone separates the corridor from the antechamber, which consists of two side stones. The main chamber is an octagon, to which the head niche and the two side niches, each consisting of three supporting stones, connect. Cairn L has a menhir in the chamber.

The cairns L and T secured with lattice gates contain great symbolic carvings in good condition. The unprotected Cairns have suffered badly from rain erosion and many of the engravings are barely recognizable. Cairn L is the dominant and most easterly grave of the cluster on Carnbane West. It has a hill surrounded by curbs and a chamber made of 20 bearing stones (10 in situ ), reminiscent of Stalled Cairns , with eight niches and an axial corridor of 8 bearing stones (6 in situ). Two of the niches contain stone basins. The right of the two is larger and emphasizes the rock carving on the back stone. Inside the chamber, 20 of the stones have incisions on their fronts. Two of them also have hidden decorations.

They were erected at the end of the 3rd millennium and many were excavated by amateurs in the early 20th century, with many artifacts lost. During the excavation of Cairn H in 1943, bone objects in the Iron Age La Tène style were found .

The two closed Cairns can only be viewed after registration (key handover).

See also

literature

  • Peter Harbison : Guide to the National Monuments in the Republic of Ireland. Including a Selection of other Monuments not in State Care. Gill & Macmillan, Dublin 1970.
  • Frank Prendergast: The Loughcrew Hills and Passage Tomb Complex. In: Bettina Stefanini, Gayle McGlynn (Ed.): North Meath (= Irish Quaternary Association. Field Guide. No. 29). Irish Quaternary Association, Dublin 2011, ISBN 0-947920-44-7 , pp. 42-54.

Web links

Coordinates: 53 ° 46 ′  N , 7 ° 6 ′  W