‘Horned Cairn’,

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Group of standing stones to the N of the Ballynichol Road, c.1.5 miles S of Comber.

The group is situated in what is now a private garden of a modern bungalow and consists of five large undressed stones of varying height (the tallest at roughly 1.5m). The stones are arranged in an arc formation which was ‘demonstrated by excavation in 1955 to be part of the curved facade of the forecourt of a long cairn’. Nothing of the remainder of the cairn appears to have survived.

Historical information

This prehistoric cairn is known is known locally as the ‘Five Sisters’ or the ‘Horned Cairn’. The group is not noted on the OS map of 1834, but may be that referred to in the contemporary OS memoirs as ‘the remains of a large circle a stones’. Interestingly, right next to the site of the cairn on the 1834 map is a small building marked ‘RC Chapel’. This building is shown on the revised map of 1858 (along with the cairn), but appears to have ceased to function as a church by this stage. Could the presence of a church close to such a monument indicate that this site’s pagan significance was ‘commandeered’ (and so neutralised) by later Christians?

The area around the group was excavated in 1955 with the remains of an adult and artefacts such as pottery uncovered.

References- Secondary sources
1 PRONI OS map 1st ed. 1834, Down 10.
2 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland Vol.7: Parishes of County Down II’, ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1991), p.35.
3 PRONI OS map 1st rev. 1858-60, Down 10.
4 ‘UJA’ 19 (1956), pp.115-120. [Article by A.E.P. Collins on the 1955 excavation.]
5 ‘Archaeological Survey of County Down’ (HMSO 1966), p.73.
6 EHS OS map 167-2 (1:2500) 1972.

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Remains of a prehistoric burial cairn consisting a group of five large stones arranged in an arc.