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Carrowkeel - The Narrow Quarter Perhaps one of the least known of Ireland's ancient sites, but without doubt the most spectacularly situated, Carrowkeel is a large group of megalithic monuments sited on the highest parts of the northern ends of the Bricklieve Mountains in the south Co. Sligo. Carrowkeel is located in the beautiful Lough Arrow region, south of the village of Castlebaldwin, in one of the most scenic and unspoilt areas remaining in the country. The megalithic structures are situated in commanding positions at altitudes between 240 and 360 meters a.s.l. and stretch from Doonaveragh Mountain alongside Lough Arrow in the east, to the cairn known as The Pinnacle atop Kesh Corann in the west. The limestone built cairns are visible from many miles around as small bumps on the ridges of the Bricklieves, particularly from the other mounds and monuments in the county.
This was undoubtedly one of the most sacred and important centres of Ancient Ireland - it has the largest remaing occupation site, and may have been a stone age capital of the Sligo region. It is a landscape rich with physical remains of the ancient past, and mythical echoes that can still be perceived in the majesty of the location and the view from the top of the mountain across the plains of Sligo. The name Bricklieve (Breac Sliabh) translates as Speckled Mountain, which is a series of parallel carboniferous limestone plateaus running in a north-west / south-east direction. This amazing topography was sculpted by the retreating galciers of the last ice age as they receeded to the north-west. Seen in an aerial photograph (below) or on maps, the shape of the mountains is not unlike a gigantic right hand, palm down, with four plateaus for fingers and cliff-edged valleys in between. Tully Mountain over to the west forms a 'thumb'. Over to the west, the landscape is equally spectacular with grass covered hills, steep valleys and Kesh Corann looming like a great crouched beast in the distance. Many millions of years ago all of this land was ocean floor and minute fossil creatures and corals can be seen in the rocks. Over most of the Bricklieves a thick layer of bog, up to 3 meters deep in places, has crept up to cover the limestone and gives the mountains a wild and rugged appearance. The bog grew about 1,500 - 2000 years after the cairns were built, when the climate cooled and became much wetter. At the time Carrowkeel was in use, the area was naked limestone and very similar in appearance to another great stone age sanctuary, the Burren in Co. Clare. |
