Heapstown Cairn by Lough Arrow, said to be the fourth largest cairn in Ireland.
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What are these sites? Chambered cairns are a type of megalithic/neolithic monument, more commonly referred to as Passage Tombs, a term which I prefer not to use though the monuments were always used as burial places. They are found in several European countries with particularly large and well preserved concentrations found in France and Ireland; they were common throughout Europe in prehistory but many have been destroyed. The word 'cairn' means a heap of stones in Irish. A general description would be a large mound of stones, contained by a ring of kerbstones which are usually much larger than the cairn stones and laid end to end. Chambered Cairns are artificial caves built as free standing structures from large slabs of stone. These structures are then covered by a heap of stones, which both stabilises the freestanding structure, defines the monument visually from a distance, and creates a viewing platform which can be used to survey the horizon. Some sites have external features such as standing stones, stone settings, raised banks and stone boxes known as cists. Two monuments, Cairn F at Carrowkeel and Cairn L at Loughcrew have standing stones within the chambers. Nearly all chambered cairns have demonstrable orientations to heavenly bodies, including the moon, though most of the work in this field has tended to concentrate on the sun. |
Plan, elevation & endview of the 'artificial cave' in Cairn G, Carrowkeel from 1911.
