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Borlase's Introduction

 

Destruction at Carrowmore

The dolmens and circles at Carrowmore have suffered much destruction over the years. The monuments seem to have remained intact until the decade or so before the Great Famine, when gravel quarrying and land clearence became more intensive. In all, some twenty seven monuments remain at Carrowmore today; there were up to sixty circles or sites originally. Their state of preservation varies considerably, from some sites, such as circles 21 and 22, which are largely destroyed, to Circle 7 which is the only complete monument. A large swaith of sites were removed on the east, south and south-west portions of Carrowmore. There are several fields which are completely clean and smooth, while the field beside it is littered with boulders.

The largely destroyed monument at Site 58 may be the remains of a wedge monument.

George Petrie was on hand in 1837 when several of the circles in the east side of Carrowmore had just been destroyed, and his notes are all the evidence we have of several circles. His Carrowmore records are full of entries such as: "This circle, with its fine cromleac, was destroyed within the last week (i.e. August, 1837) by Mr. Chambers of Cloon Hill."

In the 1980's Sligo County Council proposed to turn Carrowmore into the county landfill dump. This crazy idea was to fill the quarries with litter was overturned in the high court. The Swedish excavations did much to highlight the importance of Carrowmore, and the site is now preserved. It would be wonderful to have all the circles open to the public, as it is only by walking a circuit of the entire complex that one can get a true picture of the scale of Carrowmore.