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Photo Pages: Loughcrew Cairn T - Chambered Cairn in Ireland (Southern) in Co. Meath
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Submitted by Anthony_Weir on Thursday, 18 March 2010 Page Views: 7559
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 Site Name: Loughcrew Cairn T Alternative Name: Sliabh na Cailli
Country: Ireland (Southern) County: Co. Meath Type: Chambered Cairn
Nearest Town: Kells Townland (Nearest Village): Oldcastle
Map Ref: N585775
Discovery Map Number: D42
Latitude: 53.744010N Longitude: 7.114095W
Condition:| 5 | Perfect | | 4 | Almost Perfect | | 3 | Reasonable but with some damage | | 2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site | | 1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks | | 0 | No data. | | -1 | Completely destroyed |
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Ambience:| 5 | Superb | | 4 | Good | | 3 | Ordinary | | 2 | Not Good | | 1 | Awful | | 0 | No data. |
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Access:| 5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access | | 4 | Short walk on a footpath | | 3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk | | 2 | A long walk | | 1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find | | 0 | No data. |
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Accuracy:| 5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates | | 4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map | | 3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map | | 2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village | | 1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town | | 0 | no data |
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External Links:          Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by TysonM
Occupying the two Loughcrew Hills known as Carnbane East and Carnbane West, with car-parks at the saddle between the hills, are several passage-tombs, some of which are usually locked.
(See the notices for where keys may be obtained.) There were originally between 50 and 100 cairns or tumuli in this prominently-sited necropolis, but the usual Western European destruction and neglect of prehistoric monuments (from earliest times) has greatly reduced the number. Those which are locked have fine decoration, as well as one or two small, unroofed tombs. Carnbane East is the hill also known as Sliabh na Callighe, or the Hag’s Mountain: the tumuli were said to have dropped from the Earth Mother’s apron. Cairn T here is very well preserved with fine decoration on many stones – much of which has been disfigured by nincompoops chalking it for photographic or didactic purposes: chalk, unlike charcoal, is extremely difficult to remove from rock. It has a fine kerb of 47 exceptionally large stones, one of which (‘The Hag’s Chair’) is over 3 metres long and 2 metres wide. Cairn T is also surrounded by 6 satellites with a variety of decoration in them, including solar designs.
On Carnbane West, there are 2 large cairns, one apparently empty, but the other (cairn L) containing a fine decorated tomb with 5 side-chambers and a limestone monolith (of phallic significance ?), surrounded by 7 smaller rooflesstombs, some with decoration, and some with their short passages (mostly facing E) still partly roofed. A sunny early-morning summer visit is recommended to see the engravings well.
About 700 metres to the E of Carnbane East, on Patrickstown Hill, are the less-accessible remains of 4 more tombs, out of a former 25 or so.
~ On King’s Mountain, 3.2 km to the E, a former roofstone now stands upright on the site of a destroyed tomb. Half of one face is covered with well-executed spirals and arcs.
~ 800 metres E of Carnbane East, 300 metres W of a by-road in Ballinvally are the remains of a stone circle. Four large stones up to 2 metres high still stand, together with several fallen and broken ones. One of those still standing has beautiful natural channels in it. Five or six stones extend in a row N of the circle for a distance of 800 metres, and there are several small isolated standing-stones scattered about the surrounding area. A stone with fine petroglyphs from the same townland is in the National Museum of Ireland.
Note: Loughcrew Equinox Sunrise Illumination details posted, see latest comment
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 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by DrewParsons
A close up of The Hag's Chair. Notice the concentric ring markings at the base of the stone (to the left of the flower offering's stems). The stone has numerous other rock art items on it although they are too faint to see in this photo taken in October 2008.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by DrewParsons
The so called Hag's Chair at the perimeter of Cairn T.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by DrewParsons
The entrance gate to Cairn T.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by DrewParsons
Cairn T dominates the hilltop at this megalithic cemetery. October 2008.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by jeffrep
Kerbstones, Loughcrew Cairn T, Carbane East, County Meath, Ireland.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by jeffrep
One of Three Recesses Inside Loughcrew Cairn T, Carbane East, County Meath, Ireland.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by jeffrep
The Equinox Stone, Interior, Loughcrew Cairn T, Carbane East, County Meath, Ireland.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by jeffrep
Stone in Entrance Passage Way, Loughcrew Cairn T, Carbane East,
County Meath, Ireland.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by jeffrep
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by jeffrep
Entrance Passage, Loughcrew Cairn T, Carbane East, County Meath, Ireland.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by eforrest25
Site in Co. Meath: The "knit" of this panorama is slightly off but gives a taste of the sweeping breadth of this site.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by eforrest25
Site in Co. Meath: Entry stone to Loughcrew T passage.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by eforrest25
Site in Co. Meath: The entrance as seen from one of the other tombs to the eastern side of the hill.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by eforrest25
Site in Co. Meath: The Hag's Seat covered in frost.
 Loughcrew Cairn T submitted by DrewParsons
Entranceway into Loughcrew Cairn T
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same position Loughcrew Cairn L* Chambered Cairn (N585775)
100m N 1° Loughcrew Cairn S* Passage Grave (N585776)
200m N 1° Loughcrew Cairn W* Passage Grave (N585777)
300m N 1° Loughcrew Cairn V* Passage Grave (N585778)
300m N 1° Loughcrew Cairn U* Passage Grave (N585778)
1.1km NW 327° Ballinvalley Stone Circle (N581785)
1.4km W 266° Carbane West* Chambered Cairn (N571773)
7.3km NW 302° Farranaglogh Standing Stones (N534827)
29.0km E 102° Donaghmore Stone Circle (N860680)
32.2km E 79° Garret's Stone Standing Stone (Menhir) (N891877)
32.4km NW 327° Shantemon Stone Row / Alignment (H466077)
33.9km W 282° Aghnacliff* Portal Tomb (N263884)
35.3km N 17° Cohaw* Court Tomb (H643124)
37.8km E 89° Grangegeeth Standing Stones (N964792)
37.8km E 108° Blocc and Bluigne* Standing Stones (N9206359823)
37.8km E 108° Lia Fail* Standing Stone (Menhir) (N9197659625)
37.9km E 108° Hill of Tara* Passage Grave (N920595)
38.1km E 109° Tuath Linde* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (N920591)
38.3km E 106° Lismullin Henge Henge (N93426156)
38.8km E 106° Rath Lugh* Promontory Fort / Cliff Castle (N939613)
41.3km E 94° Knowth Timber Circle* Timber Circle (N997734)
41.4km E 94° Knowth* Passage Grave (N999738)
42.3km E 86° Tinure* Cup and Ring marks / Rock Art (O005835)
42.3km E 94° Newgrange Stone Circle* Stone Circle (O007727)
42.4km E 94° Newgrange* Passage Grave (O0080672713)
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Loughcrew equinox sunrise illumination featured at National Astronomy Meeting (Score: 1)
by Andy B on Thursday, 10 April 2003
(User Info | Send a Message) | Scientific research at the prehistoric Passage Tomb Cemetery at Loughcrew, one of Ireland's premier archaeological sites, is revealing new data on the astronomical orientations of the passage tombs and relationships in the way they are laid out. Using techniques from the science of archaeoastronomy, this research has already identified significant astronomical orientations in the larger focal tombs and significant patterns in the relative orientations of the monuments. Frank Prendergast of the Dublin Institute of
Technology presents the results of his research to date at the UK/Ireland National Astronomy Meeting in Dublin.
"By examing the relationship between the landscape, the monuments and astronomy, we can complement existing archaeological knowledge and hopefully gain insight into how prehistoric communities might have perceived their place in the cosmos," says Frank Prendergast.
Loughcrew is a nationally important archaeological landscape located 70 km north-west of Dublin in County Meath. It is the site of one of the four major passage tomb cemeteries in Ireland and dates from the Middle Neolithic (3600-3100 BC) and later. The principal type of monument is the passage tomb and some 30 of these survive in varying condition. Typically they consist of a circular cairn retained by a stone kerb. The tomb lies within the cairn
and may be roofed or unroofed. Megalithic art is often inscribed on some of the stones within the tomb.
Previous investigations by archaeologists indicate that these monuments were landmarks on the Neolithic landscape, and the larger focal tombs and their smaller surrounding satellite tombs would have had a major impact on prehistoric communities and their ritual and ceremonial practices.
Frank Prendergast's investigations show that two of the largest focal tombs are oriented towards the rising Sun at the equinoxes. On these days, at dawn and for a period of some 20 minutes afterwards, the interior of the tombs
are spectacularly illuminated by a shaft of sunlight. At these times, the elaborate engravings on some of the stones within both chambers are clearly visible in the otherwise dark interior. Equinoctial orientations are not common and their interpretation is controversial.
It is well known that many such tombs found elsewhere in Ireland and beyond, such as at Newgrange, are oriented towards the direction of the rising Sun on the solstices. These are the days in December and June when the Sun's motion in the sky reaches a 'turning point'. The direction of the rising Sun reaches its most northerly and southerly points on these dates and these are observable events. Our prehistoric ancestors would therefore not have required any advanced understanding or knowledge to pinpoint them. By contrast, the equinoxes, which occur in late March and September, are midway between the solstices and are not obvious unique events: to locate them, an observer must track the total annual range of the Sun's rising direction and then divide it in half. The question that immediately arises is, "Why would the tomb builders wish to do this?" Even more intriguingly at Loughcrew, there is a pattern of orientation between many of the smaller satellite tombs - both towards each other and towards the two focal tombs.
Clive Ruggles (University of Leicester
Frank Prendergast (Dublin Institute of Technology)
Steve McCluskey (West Virginia University
Victor Reijs (Geniet Ltd.) | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Loughcrew Cairn T (Score: 0)
by Anonymous on Saturday, 12 April 2003 | Cosmic link to stone circles
Stone Age people in Ireland appear to have built tombs based on a detailed knowledge of how the Sun moves across the sky during the year.
Tombs at the archaeological site of Loughcrew in County Meath align with the rising Sun at the spring and autumn equinoxes.
The inside of the chambers are spectacularly illuminated by a shaft of sunlight at dawn on these days, said Frank Prendergast of the Dublin Institute of Technology.
It suggests settlers in the area some 5 to 6,000 years ago knew the yearly cycle of the Sun and perhaps centred their lives around it.
Tombs found elsewhere in Ireland have been found to point towards the rising Sun at the summer and spring solstices.
At these times, the Sun reaches its most northerly and southerly points in the sky, which can be easily observed from any place on Earth.
The equinoxes - in late March and late September - are not so obvious and can only be pinpointed by tracking the passage of the Sun across the entire year.
Why tomb builders wished to do this remains a mystery but it suggests the Sun was at the heart of ritual and ceremonial practices of ancient people.
"Archaeology now has a substantial body of evidence which would indicate a very sophisticated and advanced agrarian society," Frank Prendergast told BBC News Online.
"They would have attached a sense of sacredness to their landscape and the sky and they would have done that by building the monuments the way they did; decorating them with a kind of rock art; and associating some of these monuments with key astronomical events such as a significant rising and setting points of the Moon and Sun."
Window to the past
The findings are to be presented at the UK/Ireland National Astronomy Meeting in Dublin.
Details will also be revealed of how Bronze Age stone circles in Ulster relate to both the Sun and the Moon.
One of the two large cairns at Loughcrew (Image: knowth.com)
Archaeologists believe there could have been separate lunar and solar traditions, possibly at different times in history.
But Professor Clive Ruggles, of the University of Leicester, said great care was needed in interpreting them.
"Just because a monument is aligned in a direction that we would be tempted to interpret as astronomically significant, such as the direction of sunrise or sunset on one of the solstices, this might not have been intentional," he said.
He believes the study of astronomical alignments gives an insight into how people comprehended the world in the past.
"The builders were not 'astronomers' in the sense that we would mean it today, but celestial objects and cycles were important to them in keeping their own lives in harmony with their world," he explained.
By Helen Briggs
BBC News Online science reporter | [ Reply to This ]
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Re: Loughcrew Cairn T (Score: 1)
by eforrest25 on Saturday, 27 December 2008
(User Info | Send a Message) | | It isn't often that you get a site like this all to yourself which is another joy of traveling to them on a Monday in the off season. There was an inch or more of frost on the northern slope up the hill but worth every slip and slide on the way -- shoes with soles that can handle mud are recommended and not recommended for the weak of heart. Although cold, the weather was otherwise near perfect. If it is solitude you desire, this is the place. | [ Reply to This ]
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