Carrowmore Complex

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Tomb 7

 This megalithic cemetery is the largest in Ireland and amongst the oldest in Europe. Built around 4800-4200 BC. There were originally over 100 monuments on this site including, chamber tombs, court tombs, ring forts, cairns and passage graves. There are about 30 sites still worth visiting. A large area of the Cemetery is state owned under Duchas the Heritage service, since my previous visit the state have acquired even more land on the Northern side of the road opposite the visitors centre.

I found the best way to visit this site was to go to the visitor centre first and then go on your own tour of the surrounding fields. The tombs are known by numbers assigned to them by George Petrie in 1837. Right is a boulder circle with a dolmen in the centre, known as tomb 1, this tomb is on a slightly raised platform and is over forty feet in diameter it also has an inner circle consisting of smaller stones.

Tomb 1

Tomb 2

Almost all the tombs in Carrowmore that are shown on this web site were originally passage tombs, all that remains of most of them is a boulder circle, some with dolmens or chambers intact others without, some tombs have only the cromleac remaining. All that remains of tomb 2 are the stones pictured left, this tomb was over fifty feet in diameter and lies about twenty feet East of tomb 1.
There is very little to see of tomb 3 as all the stones were removed and used in the surrounding field walls. This tomb was also a Dolmen Circle and the previous landowner remembers the Cromleac in the centre before it was used in the walls. You can see tombs 1 and 2 in the background of the picture on the right.

Tomb 3

Tomb 4

Tomb 4 pictured left was excavated in 1979 and has a radiocarbon date of 4,600 BC making it the oldest tomb on the site. The tomb is over forty feet in diameter and the boulder circle has some twenty eight stones. At the centre of the tomb is a cromleac but the capstone has been displaced. There is a double cist at the centre of the tomb, when excavated this tomb produced more finds than any other tomb at Carrowmore.

The tomb on the right is tomb 5 and is a fine example of what most of the dolmens would of looked like, it has a capstone supported by five supporting stones about 1.4 metres in height. The boulder circle was also around forty feet in diameter but at present only one of the kerb stones remain. If you look through the chamber you will just make out tomb 7 in the distance.

Tomb 6 is now completely destroyed but was also a dolmen circle type, I believe the cromleac was destroyed around 1815.

Tomb 5

Tomb 7

 Tomb 7 is probably one of the most photographed tombs at Carrowmore, it is the best example of dolmen and circle in the Carrowmore complex. Excavated in 1978 this tomb gave a date of 4050 BC. The tomb stands on a manmade platform and this circle is also about forty feet in diameter and consists of some thirty boulders.

The only thing remaining of tomb 13 is the dolmen pictured right, it also is an excellent example and has a huge capstone resting on six stones. There are other stones next to the dolmen on the western side which may have belonged to the passage.

Tomb 13

Tomb 19

The picture left shows tomb 19 the largest of all the boulder circles some seventy feet in diameter with 49 stones still visible originally there were 52 stones. Knocknarea mountain can be seen in the background, on the summit you can make out the great cairn of Miosgan Meadhbha, which is associated with Queen Maeve.

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