Carrowkeel Cemetery

Carrowkeel is a beautifully situated megalithic hill top passage tomb cemetery, Consisting of 14 passage cairns identified with letters, most of the cairns are round in shape except cairn E, which is a long oval shape and consists of a Court tomb forecourt and cruciform passage grave. If you climb up from the top car-park the first tomb you will see is Cairn G shown above, this is a classic irish passage tomb, consisting of a short passage leading to a central chamber with three equally spaced side chambers. But the most interesting feature of this tomb is the roofbox situated above the entrance the only other known roofbox is the one at Newgrange, but unlike Newgrange this one is aligned to the midsummer sunset.

The Tombs were built around 3200-2400 B.C. The bottom picture shows some 140 circular stone foundations, which are the remains of a pre-historic village, which may have been inhabited by the people who built the cairns. For a comprehensive guide to the Carrowkeel Cairns visit Martin Byrne's excellent site Carrowkeel.com . Martin is also a tour guide and can be contacted at the above site.

Pictured left is the remains of Cairn L with Cairn K in the background.

Situated: About 10 miles north of Boyle on the N4, is the village of Castlebaldwin, from there head west into the Bricklieve mountains, following the signs for Carrowkeel Passage Tombs. Turn left at the sign for the donkey sanctuary, and then first right, park here. A 30 minute walk brings you to the cemetery.

Discovery Map 25: 11 75. Last Visit: September 2007

Photos: Jim Dempsey.