The Carrowmore Megalithic Complex

The remarkable megalithic monuments at the Carrowmore complex are arranged around a plateau at the heart of the Cuil Iorra peninsula some four kilometers south-west of Sligo town. These neolithic monuments—an extremely early form of passage-grave—are located within one of the most beautiful landscapes of ancient Western Europe. This fabulous coastal region is the location of the first landfall of continental neolithic farmers arriving from Brittany.

A slideshow of various monuments and events at Carrowmore.

The Carrowmore megaliths are situated on a low plateau at the heart of the peninsula, the central point of a well-preserved megalithic landscape with fantastic views across the wider complex. The area is bounded by water on all four sides: Ballisodare Bay to the south, the Atlantic ocean to the west and Sligo Bay to the north. To the east, beyond Carns Hill is Lough Gill, the Lake of Brightness, which is connected to Sligo Bay by the short River Garavogue.

The stunning mountain of Knocknarea, which is capped by the huge unopened passage-grave known as Queen Maeve's cairn, is four kilometers to the west while the smaller but equally important Carns Hill is a similar distance to the east. There are many more mountain-top cairns on the surrounding peaks of the Ox Mountains to the south including the Cailleach's House, a neolithic monument with an open chamber.

It was believed by earlier researchers that there were as many as one hundred circles at Carrowmore, and the remains of at least sixty-five structures were recorded here by antiquarian George Petrie in 1837. However, many of the monuments recorded by Petrie were not from the megalithic tradition, and today twenty-seven monuments, in varying states of preservation, remain of a probable total of forty or so. A number of the Carrowmore monuments were extensively damaged in the 1830's, due to land clearance and gravel quarrying.

Visiting Carrowmore

The Carrowmore complex is managed by the Office of Public Works, and there is a small visitor centre and information display. During the 2024 season Carrowmore is open from St. Patrick's Day to the 3rd of November, with a cover charge. Last admission to the complex is at 5.00 pm, so give yourself plenty of time of you want to do justice to the scale of the site.

Guided tours are provided for groups on request, but pre-booking is advised. Carrowmore is well signposted from Sligo Town and is easy to find. Details of opening hours and fees can be found the dedicated Heritage Ireland webpage.

This website provides a virtual tour of the sites at Carrowmore, with a page for each circle containing any information I have been able to find about them. Because so many of the monuments have been destroyed or damaged, the sole records for some circles are the comments and drawings by George Petrie in the 1830's, excavations by William Gregory Wood-Martin and the wonderful watercolors painted by William Wakeman in 1879.

The Carrowmore Monuments

The principal type of monument found at Carrowmore are an early form of passage-grave: a circular platform of stone with a dolmen, typically constructed with five stones forming the chamber. The platform or tertre is encircled by a boulder circle, with a passageway connecting the chamber to the circle. Some of the passageways are oriented towards the location of the central cairn, Listoghil.

The stones used to construct the monuments are gneiss boulders, glacial erratics which were transported from the nearby Ox Mountains at the end of the last ice age. There are an average of 30 - 35 stones in each circle, originally set side by side, standing upright like teeth. Some of the stones are placed on a stone foundation which seems to have kept the tops of the stones level. The average circle diameter is ten to twelve meters, though a few, such as Circles 19, 22, 27 and 51 are larger.

Circle 7, known in the past as The Kissing Stone, is the most intact example remaining today. It consists of a ring of boulders eleven meters in diameter, with a beautifully balanced capstone covering the large chamber at the centre. The sockets of missing stones, which were found during the excavations show that there was once a short passage leading into the chamber. The dolmen is supported by a platform and has a dramatic location on the slope of a low hill. Fourteen of the circles at Carrowmore have evidence of a passage remaining today.

Many of the larger boulders are believed to have been split in half to provide better building materials; a good example of this construction technique can be seen at the chamber of Circle 27.

The gneiss boulders, studded with chunks of quartz, were transported to the plateau by retreating glaciers during the ice age. Several fields of gneiss boulders lying as they were dropped by the glaciers remain to the southwest of Carrowmore, and give an impression of what the landscpae would have looked like before the circles were constructed. In local folklore, the stones were carried here in the apron of the Garavogue, a powerful Cailleach or witch who lived in a passage-grave on the summit of the Ballygawley Mountains to the southwest.

The Coolrea peninsula has a limestone bed covered with a mantle of glacial gravel. The complex is located on a plateau at the centre of the peninsula, with gneiss circles built around the edge.

Few limestone slabs were used in the monuments. A good example is the massive capstone on the chamber at Site 51, which may have been quarried in the Glen four kilometers west at the south foot of Knocknarea. Some loose limestone slabs may have been used as roofing for the passages (a good example remains at Site 27).

Fragments of quartz were found in some of the circles, and these would have come from the Ox Mountains to the south, specifically from the area around Croughan. One small piece of rock crystal from Circle 3 had a hole drilled through the end and was used as a pendant or pendelum.

There is no evidence of cairns or mounds covering the chambers of the Carrowmore monuments, which were free-standing, as they remain today. The only cairn discovered at Carrowmore is the large central monument at Listoghil.