| Cairns Hill
Cairns Hill east is shrouded in a thick growth of trees, which make the walk to the site quite pleasent, but obscurs all views views to the horizon. Lough Gill, the Lake of Brightness lies just to the east of Cairns Hill. At equinox the sun and moon rises viewed from Cairns Hill and Knocknarea will rise over the Lake, the bright glow on the waters giving the lake its name. The ancient holy well at Tobernalt is about 1 km to the south, at the foot of the hill, and the Abbeyquarter boulder circle is 1.5 km to the north. The four cairns on the summits of Sliabh Da Ean are all 3 km to the south.
Cairns Hill West at the summit of Belvoir Hill, with view to Knocknarea. The cairn is covered with young trees and scrub - ash, sycamore and hazel, so that you might easily miss it and walk by: it is not that well known, even in Sligo town less than a mile away. The cairn is quite massive, being about 45 meters in diameter and some 10 meters high. It is composed of chunks of quarried limestone, and was most likely kerbed and covered in quartz. I remember seeing large chunks of quartz in the gardens on nearby Pearse Road in Sligo, which may have come from here. The site was cleared and surveyed by archaeology students at NUI Galway in 2004, but rapidly became overgrown again.
Watercolour of the west cairn, by Wakeman, 1879. The west cairn, below, is difficult enough to visit, as several fields of scrub and rough, boggy pasture must be crossed to see it. The last time I visited, it was almost impossible to get in and out through a maze of gorse bushes. The cairn is about 35 meters in diameter and 6 meters high, and somewhat more delapidated than when Wakeman drew it. The stones again are limestone, probably quarried close by - there is a large scar-like gully to the west which may be the remains of a quarry.
This site is well worth a visit, especially around the equinoxes, for the splended views of the sun setting over Knocknarea (see top photograph). Also, from this cairn, Knocknashee peeps out through a gap in the Ox Mountains in the southwest, and looks to be a marker for the sunset on the winter solstice. |
Situated just a mile to the
south of Sligo town, Cairns Hill is an amazing and little-known landscape,
even though the outskirts of the town have crept up around it. Like Knocknarea,
Cairns Hill is a double hill, with a higher and a lower summit. As the
name suggests, there are cairns on the hill, two huge unopened and undisturbed
examples of the Irish neolithic cairn. The two monuments have been labelled
Cairns Hill East and Cairns Hill West, and both are built on the highest
parts of the flat summits. The west cairn (above) has an open view of
the horizon, and looks to 
Small
round gneiss kerbstones are visible in places, peeping out from under
the cairn slip. Bergh surveyed the site in the early 1990's and noted
a large boulder which may be a fallen standing stone, and an alignment
of boulders on the north side. The boulder is easy to find, but I couldn't
locate the alignment. Bergh also noted a low platform running around the
cairn, parts of which can be clearly seen on the south west side. Last
time I visited, I found a modern 'setting' where someone had been bush
drinking - there were plenty of cans and bottles. A small hollow had been
dug on the south side near the dished platform summit, with low drystone
walls thrown up to keep the wind off the drinkers. A large flat slab can
now be seen, which is probably one of the covering stones of the hidden
passage. Exciting, eh!