Cairn - burial cairn

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on bare karst pavement on the summit (OD 1041’) of Carnseefin Mountain, overlooking Galway Bay and with extensive views in all directions. Marked and named ‘Doughbranneen’ on the 1842 and 1915 eds. of the OS 6-inch maps and named ‘Dobhach Bhrainín’ on Robinson’s map (1977). Along with the Cairn named ‘Carnsefein’ (Carn Suí Finn) c. 470m NNE, on a lower OD (726’), the name suggests that it formed a focus for Fianna myths, which may have played an important role in medieval political discourse (Fitzpatrick and Hennessy 2017). Westropp (1901, 7) recorded it as nearly levelled but it remains an imposing structure. The cairn consists of two distinct elements, an earlier terraced and potentially multi-phased cairn, on top of which is a later smaller cairn. Both cairns have undergone restoration and consolidation works, the earlier cairn by Aegis Archaeology (Coyne and Lynch 2017a and b) and the later trigonometrical station by Earthstone (Curran 2017).
The earlier cairn is roughly circular (18.3m E–W x 19.6m N–S; max H c. 2.5m) and built of limestone stones and slabs of varying sizes (Coyne and Lynch 2017a and b). Slippage of the cairn has likely enlarged the area it covers (original est. diam. c. 14m). Remnants of a possible kerb (stones max. dims. L 1.75m; H 0.4m; T 0.08m), potentially facing a revetment, are visible from W–S. Elsewhere the outer edge is covered by slippage. A series of internal revetments, that may have formed terraces, are also occasionally visible. From W, the outer kerb (av. H 0.4m) retains a flat terrace (Wth 0.8m). From there, a second revetment, a drystone wall (H 0.3m), rises to a second flat terrace (Wth 1.4m). Above this a third revetment, another drystone wall (H 0.35m), rises to retain the top of the cairn. Stone slippage gathered from the SW and E has been replaced on the cairn (Coyne and Lynch 2017b). The later cairn (H 1.55m; diam. at base 2.5m) is of drystone construction and centrally placed on top of the earlier cairn. In 2017 (Curran 2017), it underwent extensive conservation.
The earlier cairn is likely a burial cairn of prehistoric date, originally of Neolithic or Bronze Age date. The various revetments likely represent a series of subsequent enlargements or ‘wrapping events’ (cf Richards 2013), added when encompassing new burials, as was the case at Poulawack cairn (CL009-032018-) (Hencken and Movius 1935; Brindley and Lanting 1992) and some cairns surrounding wedge tombs (Ó Maoldúin 2015). These may have provided terraces, as proposed by the conservation team (Coyne and Lynch 2017a and b), or may originally have been the full height of the monument, as is evident at Turlough Hill cairn (CL006-017002-) and for some internal revetments at Slievecarran cairn (CL006-022----) and as revealed by excavation in Poulawack (Hencken and Movius 1935). The smaller later cairn is likely a 19th-century trigonometrical station as indicated on the 1842 ed. map.

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Ros Ó Maoldúin

Date of upload: 2 December 2020

References

Coyne, F. and Lynch, E. 2017a Archaeological recording of Murrooghkilly cairn, Black Head, The Burren, Co. Clare. Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark Tourism for Conservation LIFE Project (LIFE11/IE/922). Unpublished report submitted to the National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Coyne, F., and Lynch, E. 2017b Archaeological conservation works at Murrooghkilly cairn, Co. Clare. Licence no. 17E0498. Burren and Cliffs of Moher Geopark Tourism for Conservation LIFE Project (LIFE11/IE/922). http://www.burrengeopark.ie/geopark-life/tourism-studies/

Brindley, A. and Lanting, J. 1992 Radiocarbon dates from the cemetery at Poulawack, Co. Clare. Journal of Irish Archaeology 6, 13–17.

Richards, C. 2013. Building the Great Stone Circles of the North. Oxbow: Oxford.

Fitzpatrick, E. and Hennessy, R. 2017 Finn’s Seat: topographies of power and royal marchlands of Gaelic polities in medieval Ireland. Landscape History: Journal of the Society for Landscape Studies 38, 29–62.

Curran, K. 2017 Murrooghkilly cairn (dry stone) conservation report. Unpublished report for Geopark LIFE project.

Hencken, H. and Movius, H. L. 1935 A cairn at Poulawack County Clare: with a report on the human remains. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 5, 191–222.

Ó Maoldúin, R. 2015 Preliminary report on the excavation of wedge tomb CL017-180002-, Parknabinnia, Co. Clare. Licence 15E0053. Unpublished report, National Monuments Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.

Westropp, T.J 1901 Prehistoric remains in north-western Clare, part I. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 31, 1-17.

Robinson, T. 1977 (revised 1999) The Burren: a two-inch map of the uplands of north-west Clare. Map scale 1:31680. Roundstone: Folding Landscapes.