A view of the spectacular neolithic landscape at Loughcrew, the Mountains of the Witch in Co. Meath.

Who What How When Where Why Pots & Basins Quartz Art

Where? Chambered cairns were found throughout Ireland. Reports written over the last two hundred years show that probably as many have been destroyed as remain. These monuments are found in most Irish counties, though many are in poor states of repair and many have no obvious chamber. A large number have totally disappeared because their stones were robbed for convenient building materials. Ireland has several large sites where large numbers of cairns are clustered together - Carrowmore, Carrowkeel, Loughcrew, The Boyne Valley, Lough Corrib and the Wicklow Mountains. There are also many other individual sites spread out on mountain tops, the greater portion across the northern half of the island. In general chambered cairns are found in commanding locations which usually have superb views of the surrounding horizon and are often positioned in view of other cairns. However, several of the largest Irish sites are located in lowland locations - Carrowmore; Heapstown; Ballymacgibbon and Echoy's Cairns at Cong and Ballinrobe; and the mega cairns in the Boyne Valley. Water often plays an important part in their location - the Boyne at Newgrange and the Uinshin at Heapstown, while Knocknarea is surrounded by sea on three sides. Alignments are often found with prominent mountains or hills, which are often the location of another site.