CCT - carrowmore Collection

Carrowmore Passage Tomb Complex
Carrowmore Megalithic Complex is one of four large clusters of monuments built in the Irish Passage Tomb Tradition. Three other well-known centres are found at Carrowkeel, also in County Sligo, Loughcrew, and Brú na Bóinne, both in County Meath.

Carrowmore is the largest and oldest of the four complexes, dating from between 3,800 to 3,000 BC. There are 30 monuments remaining, with evidence of at least 40 originally. Carrowmore consists of one large central monument, Listoghil, which is surrounded by 29 smaller satellite structures. Carrowmore covers almost one square kilometre, with the outlying structures generally orientated towards the centre.

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Irish Passage Tomb Tradition
The Carrowmore monuments belong to the Irish Passage Tomb Tradition (IPTT). These monuments are defined by the clustering and interconnectedness of sites visually, by artwork and alignment, and by the distinctive set of objects found inside the chambers. Typically at Carrowmore, a raised platform within a stone circle supports a small burial chamber and passage.
In the early passage tomb tradition—from about 3,800 BC—cremation is the dominant funerary rite, the bones being burned elsewhere and later placed on the floors of the small chambers. Later monuments show evidence for inhumation, disarticulation and de-fleshing along with continuing cremation.
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Grave Goods and Artefacts
The artefacts and grave goods found in IPTT monuments are typically Carrowkeel ware pottery, quartz, pendants, flint, chert and deer antler pins, conforming to an established tradition. All these items have been found during excavations at Carrowmore.
Some objects appear to have been burned on the funeral pyre during cremations and others added later during burial or deposition. They may have been personal ornaments, tools or specially made ritual objects. They are an expression of the beliefs and concerns of the people who buried their dead here. Other less durable objects may have been deposited and since decayed away.
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Listoghil
The focal monument at Listoghil is the largest and most complex site at Carrowmore. The chamber, dating to around 3,600 BC, is formed from six stones and covered with a massive limestone slab. The monument began as a free-standing structure constructed on a large platform. The chamber was covered with a cairn after a period of time.
Listoghil is the only monument with engraved neolithic art. The chamber is illuminated by the rising sun in early November and February. Seven people were interred within the chamber. The cairn, which had been mostly quarried away, was reconstructed in 2003.
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History of Research
The Carrowmore megaliths have a long history of research. The monuments were largely intact when described by Henry and Beranger in 1739 and 1779. The worst destruction seems to have taken place from 1830 onwards.
The monuments were looted by Walker and surveyed and numbered by Petrie. While Wood Martin excavated many monuments in the 1880’s, Elcock researched the folklore and Wakeman painted beautiful watercolours. Welch and Green took valuable photographs in 1896 and 1910. Burenhult led excavations between 1977 and 1998. Bergh and Hensey securely dated the monuments in 2013, and Sligo IT conducted an excavation in 2019.
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A time of Change (Human Story)
The first people in Ireland were hunter-gatherers, who occupied the island around 10,000 years ago. Farming arrived about 4000 BC, brought by communities via the Mediterranean over thousands of years from its seat of invention in the Middle East.
The Carrowmore monuments were built by the descendants of these farming colonists; they stand as permanent markers of their presence. They represent a time of marked transition. Ways of life, of dress, of food, our relation to the dead, to the seasons and to each other were all changing. Inequality and hierarchy may also have emerged at this point.
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Magheraboy causewayed enclosure
Discovered during roadworks in 2004, Magheraboy causewayed enclosure is the oldest neolithic monument in the region, dating to just before 4,000 BC. No part of the site was visible above ground prior to excavation.
The causewayed enclosure covers about five acres on Magheraboy hill, three kilometres east of Carrowmore. A series of segmented ditches and a timber palisade enclosed the central area. Pottery, chert implements, quartz and three broken axe heads were found in the ditches. The site was in use for at least 500 years. Magheraboy is currently the oldest monument of this kind in either Ireland or England.
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Twin Centres: Carrowmore and Carrowkeel
Thirty smaller monuments at Carrowmore surround the high central point, where Listoghil was built around 3,600 BC. Twenty kilometres to the south-east and clearly visible from Carrowmore, another large IPTT complex, Carrowkeel, has 16 monuments at its core, covering the summits of the Bricklieve Mountains.
Both places appear to have been covered by glacial erratic stone-fields, raw materials for the construction of monuments. Carrowmore is the older site, by perhaps 200 years, though both continued in use for centuries. Around the time that Listoghil was built, the first monuments were being constructed and used in Carrowkeel.
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Legend & Folklore
The Sligo landscape is rich in legend and folklore. Many of the Gaelic texts such as the tale of Diarmad and Grainne and the Second Battle of Moytura are set in this region. Many of the ancient sites have colourful folklore associations.
Two of the hills visible from Carrowmore are associated with legendary figures. Eoghan Bel, Queen Maeve and the Red Woman are linked with Knocknarea, while the Ballygawley Mountains are the home of the Cailleach Bhéara. The Cailleach is traditionally said to have constructed the monuments at Carrowmore, carrying the stones down from the mountains in her white apron.
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Flora and Fauna
Carrowmore is a wildlife haven. The meadow with a dozen or so different types of grasses and a multitude of wildflowers and plants such as Ladies Smock, Clovers, Yellow Rattle and Ox-Eye daisies attract countless bees, insects and butterflies. In turn these attract birds such as swallows and goldfinches that feed off seeds and insects. Meadow pipits and skylarks nest within quiet areas of meadow grass.
Buzzards soar on thermals looking for a meal of rabbits and rodents. Foxes, badgers and the Irish hare are elusive but ever present within this peaceful conservation area.
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Current research
Much recent research does not involve excavation. The Carrowmore monuments were firmly dated in 2013, using samples of red deer antler pins found within the chambers during earlier excavations.
The human remains from Carrowkeel, excavated in 1911 were rediscovered in 2003. The bones of some 29 individuals were analysed, dated and sampled for ancient DNA. Another recent study by Trinity College has shown that an individual buried in Listoghil around 3,600 BC, is related to later people buried in Carrowkeel, Millin Bay and at Newgrange. OPW staff at the Carrowmore Visitor Centre have contributed to the body of research.
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Conservation and Sustainable Tourism
The degree of preservation of ancient places in Sligo is rare. Many sites are unopened. We ask visitors to show respect and help preserve our heritage treasures into the future. Please respect private property. Take nothing from or add nothing to the ancient sites; respect other visitors.
Visitors can preserve the sites by keeping to guidelines. Avoid climbing on cairns or other monuments, or littering. It is illegal to light fires or to deface or mark the monuments. Leave everything as you found it. Sustainable tourism means spreading the word on its value and the need for its preservation.
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Are you still there?

Carrowmore Passage Tomb Complex

Irish Passage Tomb Tradition

Grave Goods and Artefacts

Listoghil

History of Research

A time of Change (Human Story)

Magheraboy causewayed enclosure

Twin Centres: Carrowmore and Carrowkeel

Legend & Folklore

Flora and Fauna

Current research

Conservation and Sustainable Tourism