Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery and Queen Maeve’s Grave

Two of the reasons I wanted to visit Sligo were the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery and Queen Maeve’s Grave. First up was Carrowmore.

Carrowmore is the oldest and densest concentration of Neolithic tombs in Ireland. They have the remains of over 35 Passage Tombs, constructed nearly 6,000 years ago. The oldest monument here was built around 4600 BC.

If you are into prehistoric sites, this is a must visit in Western Ireland. The brochure they hand out advises the three peaks in the background all have Passage Tombs on top. I could barely make them out with my binoculars.

This is the largest Passage Tomb found on the site, which they call #51, based on a numbering system from when they were first categorized in 1837. This tomb was the main focus of the site, with the front of all the other passages facing toward here. This is also the only tomb that was covered in rocks, which they call a “cairn”.

A photo with Kim to provide some perspective.

This shot gives you a perspective of what the cairn looked like from the outside.

An aerial view for better perspective. This was just a pile of rocks until 1996, when they decided to excavate and find the Passage Tomb underneath.

There are so many Passage Tombs here it’s hard to keep track. To think we’d specifically stopped at places with just one!

Yet another one. There were numerous Passage Tombs here that were apparently harvested for their rocks in the early 1900’s, so the numbering system from 1837 has some specific numbers missing. Quite sad to think that some Irishman used some of these rocks to build his fence!

This last one is on private property, so you can only get so close to it. I seemed to be bothering the cow, so we didn’t stick around long.

Our next spot was close by, a decent hike up Knocknarea Mountain to Queen Maeve’s Grave.

There are several options for the hike, but we took the most direct route, which was still a damn good way to remind you of your age.

There are a series of about a thousand steps on the way up. Ok, maybe it was less than a thousand, but it was a lot!

They have included several spots to let you catch your breath and take in the view.

On top of the mountain it was blowing 50+ MPH, we were in the clouds, and it was COLD! The only thing missing was rain.

Queen Maeve of Connaught has a long back story in Irish mythology. She is basically bad-ass Irish royalty who didn’t take shit from anybody, and when she died they supposedly buried her in this cairn on the top of Knocknarea Mountain.

She is supposedly buried standing upright, holding her sword in front of her, facing the north toward her enemies. Here is an artists depiction we saw at the Carrowmore visitor center.

Sounds too Hollywood to me. I’ve gotta ask, why haven’t they dug this cairn up like they did in Carrowmore? I want to see if she is really in there, and if she’s upright, and really has a sword! I’m not asking too much am I?