What is recorded here

Carns is one of nine cairns clustered along the summit of Glasgeivnagh Hill in County Clare, where the land drops sharply to a cliff nearly sixty-five metres below. The main subcircular mound spans roughly nine to nine and a half metres, rises higher at the north than the west, and still shows outer and inner stone revetments, including two upright slabs that may have formed a small cist. People have marked this ridge for generations, perhaps burying the dead or simply claiming the wide view above the pasture.

Near the summit of the semi-karst Glasgeivnagh Hill commanding wide views, with land falling steeply to a cliff c. 65m to the SE. In rough pasture within a large multiperiod field system (CL010-064001-). Hachured and in an area named ‘Carns’ on the 1897 OS 25-inch plan and the 1920 ed. of the OS 6-inch map. This is one of a cluster of 9 cairns along this hilltop (see also CL010-064027-, CL010-064028-, CL010-064029-, CL010-064030-, CL010-064032-, CL010-064033-, CL010-064065- and CL010-064-088-). This subcircular cairn (9.5m N-S; 9m E-W) is lowest (H 0.5m) at the W and highest (H 1.4m) at the N. Two large stones of an outer revetment are visible, one (H 0.4m) at the NNE and another (H 0.5m) at the E. There are also traces of an inner revetment within the cairn at E-SE, including two slabs (max. L 1.7m) set on edge. This may be what Westropp (1913, 247) referred to as two slabs of a 1.83m-long cist. He (ibid.) also noted a ‘mass of stones of doubtful nature’ in a hollow at the NW of the cairn. The following image has been uploaded: CL010-064031-_01.jpg View of cairn from SW 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 a rare surviving example of megalithic funerary architecture in a prominent upland setting.

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