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Creeveykeel
court cairn
This
site is said to be one of, if not the largest court cairns in Ireland.
It is a very easy site to visit, as it is right by the Sligo - Donegal
N16 road, 2 km north of the village of Cliffoney. There is a parking space
signposted, but it is easy to miss on this fast and dangerous road. Ten
steps from the carpark is the cairn, which fills its own small field.
The
Iron age smelting pit in the court at Creeveykeel.
The
cairn is quite a massive wedge shaped pile of stones arranged on an east/west
axis. The chamber and court opens to the east. The cairn measures 35 x
10 meters, with the long edge on the east side and tapers away to a tail
on the west end. A narrow passage leads into the massive inner court,
which can easily hold 100 people. The court measures 15 x 10 meters.
The standing stones (orthostats) around the court are quite massive chunks
of local limestone studded with pieces of quartz. They get larger approaching
the opening at the rear of the court, which gives access to an inner chamber,
now roofless but which was originaly covered with massive corbels, making
an artificial cave. There are three smaller chambers at the western end
of the monument, two on the north side and one on the south side. These
are quite different to the main chamber, and are considered by some archaeologists
to be small passage graves.
The
site was excavated in 1935 by the Harvard archaeological mission. They
found a number of stone balls, typically found in round chambered cairns,
and two polished stone axe-heads, which were buried beneath thresholds.
There were four pits found in the inner chamber, which contained cremated
human remains, a flint scraper, some flint flakes and a chert flake. Other
finds from the inner chamber included a large flint knife, arrowheads,pot
sherds, some quartz crystals, and more flint scrapers.
Pottery sherds and flakes of flint and crystal were found in the two smaller
chambers in the west end of the cairn, and no burials. Evidence of large
fires - cremated bone and charcoal were found in the court. It was also
discovered that the monument was expanded a few times. It began as a smaller
monument with an open court, which was eventually expanded and lengthened
into a full enclosed court. Revetments were found in the sides of the
cairn, where there were probably drystone walls originally holding up
the sides of the monument.
The round feature in the court is an Iron age smelting pit, where metal
was worked. The Iron age smiths appear to have liked working in ancient
sites and unusual places such as megaliths and crannogs. Megaliths seem
to have held some magical properties in relation to metalwork.
Cartronplank,
a megalithic monument, probably a court cairn, which was located near
creeveykeel, now destroyed. Illustration from Borlase, 1895.
Other
monuments in the area:
There were originaly five megalithic monuments in this area, but very
little remains of any of the sites apart from Creeveykeel. There are several
notable ringforts close by, including a large, well preserved example
just up the Ballintrillick road from Cliffoney village, on the left.
There is a beautiful early Christian cross slab at St Brigit's well in
Cliffoney village. Access is difficult, as the slab is on private land,
even though it is quite close to the road. The slab stands under a statue
of Brigit, and has an early swastika carved at the top of the cross.
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