Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Cairn - wayside cairn
Kilbegly, County Roscommon, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Kilbegly
- County
- Roscommon
- Country
- Ireland
- SMR number
- RO054-042----
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Described by J. O'Donovan in the 1830s (O'Flanagan 1931, vol. 1, 25; Herity 2010, 17) as a 'heap of stones' built over the body of a Shane or John O'Kelly who was murdered there. The tradition records that John O'Kelly, the last descendent of Seán na Maighe, and heir to the half barony of Moycarn, was returning from abroad and passing through Ballinasloe where he had his horse re-shod. The blacksmith deliberately spiked the shoe, laming the horse, which allowed O'Kelly's enemies to overtake and murder him on top of Kilbegly Hill where a cairn was erected to mark the spot (Egan 1960, 86). The cairn was not encountered, but the barony is named after it.
Compiled by: Michael Moore
Date of upload: 24 August 2010
Amended: 22 July, 2014
References
Egan, P.K. 1960 The parish of Ballinasloe, its history from the earliest times to the present day. Dublin. Clonmore and Reynolds.
O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1931 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Roscommon collected during the progress of the
Ordnance Survey in 1837. Bray.
Herity, M. (ed.) 2010 Ordnance Survey Letters, Roscommon. Dublin, Fourmasters Press