Home Page Guided Tour Map Email   Carrowkeel Carrowkeel - page 2 Cairn A Cairns C & D Cairn E Sections of Cairn F More sections from F Astronomy at Cairn G Cairn H Sections & plans Cairn K Cairn K section Panorama from K Panorama page 2 Cairn L Cairns M & N Cairns O & P Doonaveeragh Treanmacmurtagh Sheecor Lough na Leibe Treanmor Cairnanweeleen The Caves of Kesh

Cairn G, Carrowkeel Cairn G was introduced on the last page by R. L. Praeger, who visited Carrowkeel in 1897 and returned in 1911 with Armstrong and Macalister to excavate the cairns. G is the first cairn the visitor meets above the top car park at Carrowkeel. It is the best preserved of the Carrowkeel monuments, being a fine example of a cruciform Irish Passage Cairn, little disturbed over the last 6,000 years or so. Possibly the most exciting feature is the roofbox and midsummer sunset alignment which are described below. The cairn is situated at 290 metres above sea level on the north end of Carrowkeel Mountain. There is a fine wide panaroma directed to the north and north-west with Knocknarea and its great cairn dominating the north, and Kesh Corran to the west, with Croagh Patrick clearly visible in the south-west on a clear day. The view to the east is almost like a stage set with Lough Arrow and Moytura in the foreground, and the Arigna Mountains and Sliabh an Iarainn behind them. The base of the cairn and most of the north face are buried under the bog, with one kerbstone, a gneiss boulder, visible west of the entrance. These monuments were built before the bog grew, and the terrain of Carrowkeel was probably something like the Burren is today. The diameter of the cairn is given as 21 metres. There is a large flat flag on the western side, which presumably covers a stone coffer or cist like the one east of Cairn K. The chamber of Cairn G is a fine piece of engineering and was much admired by Macalister in his writings of the 1911 excavation.