Looking into the entrance of Cairn H on the full moon.

 
Carrowkeel
Cairn A
Cairns C & D
Cairn F
Cairn G
Cairn H
Cairn K
Cairn L
Cairns M & N
Cairns O & P
Doonaveeragh
Treanmacmurtagh
Sheecor
Lough na Leibe
Treanmor
Cairnanweeleen
The Caves of Kesh
Kesh Corran
Kesh Mythology
Kesh Cairn
Sections of Cairn F
More sections from F
Section of Cairn G
Astronomy at Cairn G
More astronomy
Sections & plans
Panorama from Carrowkeel
 

 Cairn H

Cairn H is about 75 metres south of Cairn G and is in a ruinous state with a collapsed roof and caved in chamber. When Professor Macalister excavated this monument in 1911 it was recorded as being nearly 30 metres in diameter, which would make it the largest monument of the group; however, Cairn H is, like most of the other cairns about 20 metres in diameter. It has a double row of kerbstones one row 2 metres inside the other, the only such example in Carrowkeel. It is worth having a look around this cairn: there is a small mound which may be the remains of a Bronze age cist to the right of the entrance, and what appears to be a collapsed dolmen a few meters to the south. The dolmen can be seen in the picture below as a tumble of stones in the foreground.

Cairns H and G, with the possible remains of a dolmen in the foreground. Some strange experiments with lights going on! Picture © Leo Regan

This was the only cairn the excavators found with its entrance open, but the passage was blocked by a fallen stone not far in. They entered the chamber from above by removing tons of roofing flags and stones, supposedly with the aid of dynamite, and are responsible for the present state of the monument. The cairn proved to contain a pentagonal chamber at the end of a curved or bent passage, which may be a forerunner to the western passage at Knowth.

Cairn H is aligned to the sunsets sometime between the equinoxes and the summer solstice and is probably aligned to the setting of one of the minor lunar standstills.