Banner: Knocknarea at Sunset.
Carnfree, the inauguration mound of the O'Connors.
Carnfree, the inauguration mound of the O'Connors.

Carnfree

The Carnfree cluster of monuments is located a few kilometers to the south of Rathcroghan. This ridge has a number of barrows and other monuments spread across the summit, the most famous being Carnfree itself.  Cairn Fraoch, is probably a barrow or even earlier monument that was re-used as the inauguration mound of the O'Conor Kings of Connaught in medieval times.

The large barrow on the ridge of Carnfree.
The large barrow on the ridge of Carnfree, with the inauguration mound visible 100 meters away.

The inauguration mound of Carnfree is a cairn of stone ten meters in diameter and two meters high, built on a rock outcrop. The monument may be a small passage-grave or barrow of especial sanctity to the O'Conor sept. Fraoch was the step-son of Queen Medbh, promised to her daughter Fionnabhar.

Cloch Fada na Cairn, the long stone of the Cairns at Carnfree.
Cloch Fada na Cairn, the long stone of the Cairns at Carnfree.

The oldest monuments in the area are three megalithic structures, now quite ruined, at Sheegeeragh about one kilometer east of the ridge of Carnfree. These three megaliths are thought to have been passage-graves.

Sheegeeragh near Carnfree.
Sheegeeragh near Carnfree, a group of three ruined megalithic structures, probably chambered cairns, lie close to the main road between Tulsk and Roscommon.