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Cairns Hill Situated just 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. As the name suggests, there are cairns on the hill, two quite large 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 Sliabh Da Ean just south, Knocknashee to the south west, Knocknarea to the west and Benbulben to the north.
Looking south from Cairns Hill West to the Mountains of Sliabh da Ean. Cairns Hill east is shrouded in a thick growth of trees and currently has no views to the horizon. Lough Gill, the Lake of Brightness lies 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. |
