What is recorded here

White Carn is a substantial trapezoidal court tomb in County Cavan, Ireland, stretching 19m beside Garvagh Lough. Heavy facade blocks and kerbstones still mark its edges, while a narrow gallery leads inward past sidestones and displaced roof slabs. People built this place to hold the dead and be held in memory, shaping stone into a chamber where forgetting becomes impossible.

This monument, situated about 0.7km SW of Garvagh Lough, consists of a court and gallery at the NW end of a substantial trapezoidal cairn, some 19m in length. Kerbstones are visible at its SE end and more westerly side. Some heavy blocks at the front of the cairn may represent a facade. A single courtstone flanks each side of the gallery entrance which is formed by two jambs, 0.9m apart. A sidestone and beyond this a corbel indicate the W side of the gallery. At the E side of the gallery there are two adjoining sidestones 2.5m from the entrance jamb. Outside the first of these there is a set stone angled away from the gallery and 0.7m W of the same sidestone there is a set stone standing in the gallery area. Two slabs lying in the gallery may be displaced roof stones. A loosely set upright stone outside the W side of the gallery may not be an original feature. (de Valera and Ó Nualláin 1972, 111-2, No. 10) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cavan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1995). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 December 2008 See linked document with details from Ruaidhrí de Valera and Seán Ó Nualláin, Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume III. Counties Galway, Roscommon, Leitrim, Longford, Westmeath, Laoighis, Offaly, Kildare, Cavan. (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1972).

Neolithic passage tomb; dates to the 4th–3rd millennium BCE. Its trapezoidal cairn and gallery indicate a ceremonial and funerary function, reflecting early ritual practices in the region.

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