Cairn - unclassified

The National Monuments Service's description

In rough mountain pasture, on the summit of Knockfeerina. A roughly circular flat-topped cairn of stones (22m N-S; 23.5m E-W; H 3.05m at N; 2.8m at E). On its W edge is an abandoned quarry (8m N-S; 6m E-W) where stones have been removed down to underlying bedrock; there are also some small quarried depressions in the SE quadrant of the cairn. Standing in the E quadrant of the cairn is a concrete cross, erected in 1950. Just inside the N edge at the base of the cairn is an OS trigonometrical station. A telecommunications mast stands 10m to the NW. According to MacNeill (1982, vol. 1, 201-6) Knockfeerina 'is one of the most famous fairy hills in Munster ... and gets its name from the fairy-king Donn Fi(fada)rinne' (ibid., 202). The hill was also 'in olden times' (ibid., 205) the site of a Lughnasa assembly. Associated with this was the tradition 'to visit the hill at least once a year and put a stone on the cairn' (ibid.). According to Lynch (1909-11, 108) all the tradition associated with the cairn 'appears to be lost'.
Compiled by: Denis Power

Date of upload: 26 August 2011