Cairn - wayside cairn

The National Monuments Service's description

Close to the summit of Salrock Pass, on the side of the narrow trackway which crosses the mountain from Killary Harbour to Killary Bay Little. The Halls (1841, 489, 491) mention the existence of 'Rude heaps of stones ... ranged along [the] sides' of this pass and illustrate a small cairn surmounted by a wooden cross. The OS 6-inch maps show seven small, almost square enclosures on N verge of the track, along which the townland boundary also runs. They consist of U-shaped rectangular structures (L c. 6-7m, H 1.5m max.), the open, N side of which faces on to the cliff face. Some have small opes in S wall akin to windows and doorways. Local tradition holds that these were coffin-rests for the people of Bunowen village, on Killary Harbour, who used to bear their dead across this steep pass for burial in the graveyard at Foher (GA010-008001-). There is a local custom of throwing a single stone into the window-like opes when passing these structures.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993).

Date of upload: 05 August 2010