What is recorded here

Cairn in Ballyneillan, County Clare is a flat-topped stone mound about twenty metres across and two metres high, sitting on the edge between two townlands and two baronies. Its top holds five hollows, one exposing the lintel of what may be a buried chamber, while a working quarry presses in from the south. During road works in 1874 and 1875 the mound was broken into and a cist grave with at least two sets of human remains was reportedly uncovered, though T. J. Westropp later denied that a cist existed. That unresolved contradiction still hangs over the stones, ancient and industrial, as if the cairn were holding its breath between memories.

At the leading W edge of a fairly level terrace on a W-facing slope. A possible cairn was noted by Spellissy (1980, 4, 5). On inspection in 1997 this was found to be a tall, rectangular, drystone cairn most likely used as a directional marker or a marker used by fishermen off the coast of Black Head. Compiled by: Mary Tunney Date of upload: 30 August 2019

A rectangular drystone cairn, likely dating to the Bronze Age; its function may have been funerary or ritual. Its form reflects common megalithic traditions in the region during this period.

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