What is recorded here

Carran Cairn stands in rough grazing beside Carran Church, where Westropp recorded coffins carried around the stones before the practice vanished. The five nearby mounds may mark penitential stations or simply collect field clearance, leaving the true purpose hidden beneath limestone and grass.

In level, rough grazing to the SSE of Carran Church (CL009-075001-) and Graveyard (CL009-075002-) overlooking the Poulacarran Valley to the E, and also associated with a Settlement Cluster (CL009-075005-) concentrated just NW of Carran Church. One of five small cairns visible to the SSE (CL009-075003- and CL009-075015-), SW (CL009-075016- and CL009-075017-) and at W (CL009-075018-) of Carran Graveyard. While they may be the result of – or may have been augmented by - field clearance, it’s possible that some, at least, (in particular CL009-075003- and CL009-075018-) may have functioned as penitential stations associated with Carran Church? Westropp (1900-1902, 134) recorded, ‘South of the church (CL009-075001-) is a small cairn, round which coffins are carried …’ This is likely to be the ‘Carn’ recorded on the OS 6-inch maps (CL009-075003-) The practice was not recorded by the time of Swinfen's writing (1992, 9). Westropp (1906-1907, 460) further reported that a cist was covered by a cairn in Carran townland (see also Westropp 1898, 362), however, no cist is visible in any of these five cairns. CL009-075016- was recorded by Dowd, Crumlish and O’Gorman (2007, 34: Cairn B) as a roughly circular cairn (diam. 4m; H 1m) composed of relatively large stones (L 0.3-0.5m). An upright limestone slab (H0.6m; Wth 0.3m) stands on the S-edge of the cairn. See attached CL009-075016-_1: their photo from S, with a nearby cairn (CL009-075017-) visible behind, and part of Carran Graveyard wall just visible at top right. References Dowd, A. Crumlish B. O’Gorman D. 2007. A landscape survey of Carran Church in the Burren, Co. Clare. Unpublished thesis for the Masters in Landscape Archaeology, NUI Galway. Swinfen, A. 1992. Forgotten stones. Ancient church sites of the Burren and environs. Dublin. The Lilliput Press. Westropp, T.J. 1898 Prehistoric remains in the Burren, County Clare (Carran and Kilcorney). The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 8, 352-366. Westropp, T.J. 1906-1907 The cists, dolmens and pillars of the western half of the county of Clare. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 26, 447-72. Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy Date of upload:28-September 2022

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