The Hag's Chair, with megalithic art highlighted by computer. Kids are natural.
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Loughcrew - megalithic art Loughcrew is the home of a superb collection of megalithic art many of the stuctural stones of the chambers bear engravings, and doubtless there were many more in the past. The artist du Noyer recorded Loughcrew engravings in the 1860's, a very valueable record since many of the stones have greatly weathered since then. Some 26 stones within Cairn T bear decoration, most notably the backstone of the end-recess. American researcher Martin Brennan demonstrated in the early 1980's that the equinox sunrises illuminate this complex slab of megalithic symbols. The only surviving engraved kerbstone, the Hag's Chair, is positioned on the north side of the cairn. The engravings are much weathered today, and not obvious at all on the stone bar some relatively recent graffiti.
Du Noyer's drawing of the remaining slab of Cairn X1 on Patrickstown Hill, the so called Calendar Stone. Cairn U also has several engravings within it's chamber, including a long set of inverted nested arcs, which may represent a sunrise. The stones in the recesses on either side also bear interesting compositions. There are scattered engravings on the other monuments, but not a great amount remains. |
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Engravings in Cairn T. |
On Cairnbane West, the largest number of surviving stones are within Cairn L, with it's unique standing stone and basin. A beautiful and dramatic design of nested circles, cupmarks and arcs covers the slab at the rear of the main right-hand recess. Brennan demonstrated that this engraving is illuminated by the rising sun on the November and February cross-quater days. This stunning display of light and shadow is illustrated on the Cairn L Page. Aside from L, carvings can easily be found in cairns I and H. Indeed, hundreds of bone slips (illustrated on these pages) were discovered in Cairn H, and one can imagine the Iron Age artist at work, inspired by the ancient engraved spirals on the walls.
Engraved stone from the right-hand recess of Cairn U by Du Noyer. The archaeologist Elisabeth Shee Twohig took rubbings of the Loughcrew stones (with the seeming exception of the Hag's Chair), and her book, the Megalithic Art of Western Europe is essential to anyone who wishes to locate all the engraved stones. A number of the stones are reproduced in Brennan's book, The Stones of Time, and some of du Noyer's drawings are illustrated in Michael Herity's Irish Passage Graves. There is more art in the area. A standing stone on the south slope of Sliabh na Caillí has an engraved spral on it's north surface. An engraved slab was recently erected within the entrance by the way to Cairnbane West. There appear to be engraved slabs near the Ballinavally stone circle to the north of the hills. A lone slab engraved with large spirals stands on King's Mountain a few km to the east. Finally, at least one Loughcrew stone is on display in the National Museum in Dublin. |
