Cairn

In blanket bog, located on the N edge of Knockachree Mountain, in the Ox Mountain Range. To N of the cairn the ground shelves away, dropping in steep terraces to the rocky cliffs that define the N edge of the mountain. The location provides panoramic views, encompassing the entire lowlying coastal strip from Killala Bay, Co. Mayo at NW to Sligo Bay at NE, and stretching N to Slieve League in Donegal. Benbulben and Knocknarae mountains are prominent to NE. To SE−SW the views are of the blanket bog-covered plateau of the mountain. Subcircular cairn (18.6m N−S; 16m E−W) constructed of medium and large angular slabs of locally-occurring quartz-bearing gneiss/schist. The centre of the cairn appears to have been dug into/disturbed in the past, leaving a moss-covered stony hollow interior (5m N−S; 4.5m E−W) surrounded by an outer ring of cairn material. The outer ring consists of a stone bank (Wth c. 6m; H 1-1.4m) of irregular height, partly moss-covered. A small, roughly conical heap (diam. 3-3.5m; H 0.9m) of stones, has been built on top of the S edge of the cairn; it is of relatively recently construction, probably for use as a trigonometrical station. There is another cairn (SL019-258----) c. 600m to S, not visible from this cairn. Attached images: SL019-262----_01.JPG Cairn viewed from SW SL019-262----_02.JPG Cairn viewed from SE SL019-262----_03.JPG Cairn viewed from NW, showing central moss-covered hollow SL019-262----_04.JPG Cairn viewed from NE Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 6 May 2020