What is recorded here

Carns is a low, irregular cairn near the top of Glasgeivnagh Hill in County Clare, Ireland, where the land drops sixty metres to a cliff. It joins eight other cairns along the hilltop, marking a line of human presence above rough pasture and old field boundaries. The ne side has lost stones, leaving a shallow rim and a gap that may have formed before Westropp visited in 1913. To walk past it is to see how quickly a hill can take back what people placed upon it.

Near the top of the semi-karst Glasgeivnagh Hill commanding panoramic views, with land falling steeply to a cliff c. 60m to the SE. In rough pasture within a large multiperiod field system (CL010-064001-). This is one of a cluster of 9 cairns along this hilltop (see also CL010-064028-, CL010-064029-, CL010-064030-, CL010-064031-, CL010-064032-, CL010-064033-, CL010-064065- and CL010-064-088-). Hachured and named ‘Carn’ on the 1897 OS 25-inch plan and the 1920 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. This irregular-shaped, partly grass-covered cairn (10m E-W; 8.5m N-S; max. H 1m at S) is very low at the N. Near the NE edge of the cairn is a raised subcircular stone concentration (H 0.6m), much of the NE side of which has been removed. This damage appears to have already occurred by the time of Westropp’s (1913, 249) visit to this ‘defaced little carn’. The following image has been uploaded: CL010-064027-_01.jpg View of cairn from NW Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Conn Herriott Date of upload: 18 April 2023

A portal dolmen dating to the Early Neolithic period; it is significant as part of a broader multiperiod landscape and reflects early megalithic funerary practices in the region.

This remains an important historical record, but the official description says the monument is no longer visible or has been destroyed. The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.