What is recorded here

Six cobble cairns and a circular hut have reappeared on a narrow Donegal sand spit, stripped from a grazing dune by creek water and exposed to the bay. They sit within eleven metres of one another among scattered shell and modern debris, large enough to walk around but small enough to vanish again when the dune shifts. The sea keeps returning what the land forgot, then taking it back before anyone decides whether the stones marked a home, a boundary or a burial.

This is one of six cairns (DG099-021001- to DG099-021006-), located close to a circular stone hut site (DG099-020----), which were observed near the foreshore in sand dunes to the east of Mountcharles in September 2010. The features lie on a sand spit orientated SE−NW between an estuary and Donegal Bay. The features have been exposed by the erosion of a large sand dune, exacerbated by cattle grazing as well as stream erosion from the creek of Warren Channel to the NW. They cover an area c. 20-25m². The six cairns (DG099-021001- to DG099-021006-) are located seaward, and within c. 11m of the circular hut site (DG099-020----). The cairns, which consist of roughly circular heaps of beach cobbles, range in diameter from 1.6m to 4.65m, rising up to 1m high above the sand. Cockle, mussel and razor shells are scattered around the exposed area, as well as modern debris. (Pers. comm. Edward Pollard, 5th September 2010). Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 10 September 2010

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