I'd like to thank Roisin McGlone, Manager of the Arrow Community Enterprise Centre at Castlebaldwin, Co. Sligo. Special thanks goes to Sam Moore, editor, at the Arrow Centre for allowing me to use ,unsparingly, information contained in the Community's Guide to Carrowkeel/Keshcorran. This small guide is packed with detailed information on the surrounding areas of interest in and around Lough Arrow. I'm advocating anyone considering visiting the Carrowkeel/Keshcorran sites to contact Martin Byrne, Archaeoastronomer, Photographer, Artist and ultimate Bord Failte tour guide to the area. Martin lives at the base of the site in question and you can see some spectacular photos he has obtained of sunsets from the cairns on his own web-site, which is listed at my links page, along with browsing through his on-line shop. Martin is the re-discoverer of both the solar purpose of Cairn G at Carrowkeel on the Summer Solstice sunset and the lunar function of the same cairn which demonstates that moonlight will enter G and hit the end chamber wall at the extreme Northerly lunar standstill point.
SUCCEEDING HEADINGS :- /Carrowkeel Cairn Complex /Cairns G + H /Azimuth 313° and its Significance /Tracking the Moon and Sun /Capella to the rescue /Fire /Descent of the Gods /Other Considerations /Cairns B,E and K /Cassiopeia and Cygnus /Miosgan Meadhbha/Queen Maeve's Cairn, Knocknarea /Cairn E as a Court Cairn /A Complete Surprise /A Ground Plan in Mind? /Dating the Site /Intra-Cairn Alignments /Preliminary Findings /Conclusions
A series of some 15 cairns rest on 4 fingers of
limestone outcroppings dramatically situated in the Bricklieve
mountains approximately 20 miles SE of Sligo town on the N4.
Thismegalithic site has the highest elevation of all
the known clusters of such sites in Ireland (average
300m). County Sligo boasts 38-40% of all Ireland's megalithic
remains principally derived from two sites, Carrowmore(100 tombs) in the
lowlands just east of Knocknarea Mt. and Carrowkeel/Keshcorran(20 tombs).,(Note1)
The view from the cairns is quite impressive, with the
Ox mountains to the West, Knocknarea with its 'unopened'
cairn Miosgan Meadhbha(Queen Maeve's cairn), to the NW,
Keelogboy Mountain to the NE and Lough Arrow to your immediate
East. None of Carrowkeel's surviving cairns exhibit any traces
of the famous Atlantic Megalithic ornamentation found
as you travel ESE across the countryside towards Newgrange.
This apparent lack of artwork suggests the complex maybe
older than any other site.
When I first came across an orientation map of this area, it was intuitive to me that most of the alignments faced into a narrow segment to the NW. This meant that none of them opened to the Solar and Lunar bodies.
On closer examination this is largely true, with some very important exceptions. Analysis indicates that the surviving cairns take in a sweep of horizon from azimuth 312° - 344 °.There maybe other ruined cairns that had a wider or different orientation, however no thorough investigation has ever been carried out.
The only excavation on record is that of R.A.S Macalister, Robert Praeger et al who carried out a quick 12.5 day exploration on behalf of the Royal Irish Academy in 1911. Their haste in trying to find the entrances to some of these tombs caused some damage to Cairns F and H in the process. Various tomb internments were collected along with animal bones, flints, and a distinctive style of pottery that came to be known as 'Carrowkeel Ware'. Topographical plans of the cairn layouts were measured and drawn up. (Note2)
From the plans we can distinguish the classical Irish cruciform shaped passage grave , i.e. an orthostat lined passageway leading to a minimum of 3 recesses, usually at right angles to each other. One of the cairns, F, has 5 recesses and a standing stone. Three very differently structured cairns, B,H and E prove to be very interesting. H is an undifferentiated type, with no right angled recesses and a curiously curved passageway that bends three quarters of the way in. Before the excavation at Knowth in County Meath was carried out, Cairn H was the only discovered 'allee coudee' as the French would call these tombs. The western passage at Knowth is a similiar example with a very long straight passage and then that distinctive bend towards the end chamber.
