What is recorded here

Cairn marked a cliff-edge above Coulagh Bay in County Cork, a broad mound of earth and stone standing nearly two metres high before the sea bit through and a landowner cleared what remained. The field still carries the name Reen na Gcarraan, point of the cairn, preserving the shape of what disappeared. That much is known; the rest belongs to imagination. Perhaps people gathered there to watch weather come in from the north, drop stones into the mound and leave the bay behind. If so, the cairn was not a monument but a habit, repeated until the cliff itself forgot the shape it had held.

On cliff-edge overlooking Coulagh Bay to N. According to local information, cairn of earth and stone (diam. c. 4m; H c. 1.75m) stood here; partially eroded by sea and remainder removed by landowner. Field known as "reen na gcarran" - point of the cairn. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

A Neolithic cairn, likely dating to the 4th–3rd millennium BCE. Its location on a cliff-edge suggests ritual or funerary significance, common in coastal Neolithic monuments of the region.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.