What is recorded here

Inside Carrowdangan Wood, a willow straddles a small mound of heat-broken stone and charcoal, marking one of the oldest kitchens in Mayo. People may have gathered at the nearby spring, heated water until the stones cracked, and cooked or cleaned in the steam before carrying what they needed back toward the ridge. The wood still keeps the place half-hidden, but the broken stones preserve the day the water first boiled there.

In rough, scrubby woodland, adjacent to a spring in a natural basin of wet ground at the base of a steep NNW-facing ridge slope. The area is marked ‘Carrowdangan Wood’ on the 1919 OS 6-inch map. A roughly oval mound (c. 6m NW–SE; c. 4-5m NE–SW; H 0.3m) of firm dry ground amidst an expanse of soft, wet terrain. It is composed of heat-shattered stones and occasional charcoal fragments in dark soil. The exact limits of the mound are obscured by a large willow tree, whose roots have spread over the mound. A spring/drain lies immediately to E, and flows to NNE flanked on the E side by a field fence. A rath (MA080-046001-) crowns the ridge is c. 150m to S. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 6 December 2021

Burnt mound in Carrowndangan is a Neolithic ritual or industrial site, dating to the third millennium BCE. Its location near a spring suggests it may have been used for ceremonial heating or water-related activities, typical of such sites in the Irish landscape.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.