Knocknarea Queen Maeve's Cairn The Glen Carrowmore Carrowkeel Shee Lugh Culleenamore Croghaun Doomore Tobernalt Abbeyquarter The Glen of Knocknarea.

The Cuil Irra peninsula is a strip of land on the coast of County Sligo, surrounded by mountains and sea, which was settled by ancient man in very early times. The peninsula is dominated by the beautiful mountain of Knocknarea which rises to a height of 321 meters at the western end. The east of Cuil Irra has a low double hill called Cairns Hill beyond which is Lough Gill, the Lake of Brightness. To the south is the chain of the Ox Mountains, a gniess, granite and quartz range said to be the oldest mountain range in Europe. To the north is the unique sculpted plateau of Benbulben and Kings Mountain, while away beyond Sligo Bay rise the sheer cliffs of Sliabh League, the highest sea cliffs in Europe. The short Sligo river, the Garavogue (small and rough) empties from Lough Gill into Sligo Harbour, and would have been important for travel to the ancient people. It was also an important source of food - Sligo gets its name from Sligeach, the Shelly Place, and huge quantities of shellfish were found all along the banks of the river. There are still large piles of middens out along the shore at Culleenamore at the west end of the penninsula. Looking north at Queen Maeve's Cairn, Knocknarea. In the foreground is a ruined chamber and beyond stands the south marker stone. This picture was taken just after a snow storm! The remains of an ancient monument sit not far from the shore of the Garavogue River at Abbeyquarter in Sligo - it is probably the oldest building in the town. Another, long since destroyed, is thought to have stood on the site of St John's Cathederal in Sligo. No wonder the ancients chose such a place to settle. There are many ancient buildings on the Cuil Irra peninsula - it was a hive of activity in ancient times. At the centre of the peninsula is the great site of Carrowmore, The Great Quarter, which is the largest collection of stone age monuments in the British Islands. It is said that there were once 100 - 120 sites at Carrowmore. Over the past two hundred years many of the monuments were cleared or destroyed in land improvement and quarrying schemes. Today the sites of some 65 dolmens and circles are known, with 27 remaining in reasonable condition. The monuments survived another bizarre attack some 20 years ago, when Sligo County Council planned to use the quarried gravel pits in Carrowmore for the local landfill dump. Some local people took the case to the high court, and succeeded in having this crazy plan stopped. Like the Boyne Valley in Meath, Carrowmore is said to be located in the heart of some of the best farming land in County Sligo.

These pages are laid out in the form of a short tour around the Knocknarea Peninsula, beginning at Abbeyquarter Stone Circle in Sligo Town. Clicking on Next Page will bring you to the next site going clockwise.