This huge monument is about 60 meters in diameter!
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Daithí's Cairn Daithí's Cairn is located not far off the road about a kilometer southwest of Ballinrobe. This monument was a surprise for me, as it is an enormous cairn, much bigger than I was expecting. Lots of the stone has been robbed for the local field walls, of which there are many. From the top, the cairn appears circular and may be as much as 60 meters in diameter. Similar sized monuments are Heapstown Cairn and Queen Maeve's Cairn in Co Sligo, and Cairn D at Loughcew.
Some stumps of limestone kerbs surround this monument. Another interesting feature of Daithí's Cairn is the enclosing circular bank, which runs right around the monument. Much of this stone wall and ditch is certainly fairly recent, but could easily be built over an earlier embankment. The view was hazy the day I was there, and I could not see much. A glimpse of Lough Mask is visible in the picture below. Both Knockma and Eochy's Cairn which is about 2.5 km to the south should be visible. There is a pond or spring in a field beside the cairn, visible as a low horseshoe-shaped mound in the picture below. |
View to the west from Daithí's Cairn. The nearest ditch may be an ancient enclosure.
