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Cairn

Cairn, unclassified

What is recorded here

An unclassified rectangular cairn sits near the island's highest point, watched by a later field wall and a ruined farm building. It is not a hidden fort, though local memory calls it one, nor is it a lost temple. It is a cairn: stones gathered, shaped and left visible on open ground. The wall beside it belongs to farming, not defence. The top of the island is not empty; it is marked. People were there, they saw far, and they put stones down where others could still find them.
This cairn came to light during the course of fieldwork on the AranLIFE Farming Project (2014-2018) (see www.aranlife.ie). It is located close to the highest point of the island, at the edge of its central plateau and within a network of small rectangular fields. It commands panoramic views in all directions. The subrectangular cairn (22.5m N-S; c. 15m E-W) is bounded by a later field wall (H 1.6-2.2m; Wth 0.4m); a ruined farm building abuts it at SSE. It is composed of loose boulders and is densely overgrown. It is known locally as a ‘fort’ and the enclosing wall bears a superficial resemblance to a conserved cashel wall. Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 11 December 2018

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What survives
Recorded monument

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