Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery

Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery Welcome to the official page for Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery an OPW managed heritage site.

Carrowmore is a cluster of ancient monuments at the heart of the Cúil Iorra peninsula, 4km west of Sligo town. Although the monuments and their ever-evolving story is remarkable in itself, the immediate cluster is only part of a far bigger picture. The Carrowmore Megalithic Complex is the focus of the ‘Landscape of the Monuments’ in this part of County Sligo, standing at the heart of an array of

unforgettable landmarks like Queen Maeve’s tomb on Knocknarea, the hill cairns of the Ballygawley Hills, Doomore, Croghaun, Cairn’s Hill, etc. The Visitor Centre offers guided tours and self-guiding options in 20 languages.

Looking west from the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, the visitor's eye is irresistibly drawn to the magical mountain of...
12/06/2026

Looking west from the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, the visitor's eye is irresistibly drawn to the magical mountain of Knocknarea, the Hill of the Moon, with the enormous unexcavated passage-grave known as Queen Maeve's cairn on the flat summit.

Visible from up to 50 kilometers in every direction, including several of the chambers in Carrowkeel, Queen Maeve's cairn is said to be the largest unopened megalithic monument left in Europe. It is certainly the most impressively located. The cairn is 60 meters in diameter and 10 meters high. The monument is constructed on a massive platform which contains many chunks of quartz.

Photo (also showing passage-grave 3 at the Carrowmore Megalithic Complex) by Carrowmore guide Martin.

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The magical mountain of Knocknarea, the highest point on the Cuil Iorra peninsula. The huge mound of stones on the summi...
12/06/2026

The magical mountain of Knocknarea, the highest point on the Cuil Iorra peninsula. The huge mound of stones on the summit is known locally as Queen Maeve's cairn, dedicated to the great Iron age or more likely, Bronze age warrior queen of Connaught.

Queen Maeve's cairn, highly likely to be a passage-grave, is four kilometers west of the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery. The massive monument, 60 meters in diameter and 10 meters high, is the largest unexcavated Neolithic monument remaining in Europe. Photograph by Carrowmore guide Martin.

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A photograph from our archive of images showing two archaeologists from the Swedish excavation team surveying the huge b...
10/06/2026

A photograph from our archive of images showing two archaeologists from the Swedish excavation team surveying the huge burial chamber at Listoghil, the largest of the passage-graves at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery. The photograph was taken by the lead excavator, Professor Göran Burenhult in 1997.

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Manganese Oxide dendrites in the sandstone flagstones outside the Visitor Centre at the Carrowmore Megalithic Complex. T...
10/06/2026

Manganese Oxide dendrites in the sandstone flagstones outside the Visitor Centre at the Carrowmore Megalithic Complex. These quite beautiful markings are inorganic mineral deposite and not remains of fossils. Photograph by Carrowmore guide Ciarán.

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A rabbit keeping watch on the platform of Passage-grave 4, the Cromleac of the Phantom Stones at the Carrowmore Megalith...
09/06/2026

A rabbit keeping watch on the platform of Passage-grave 4, the Cromleac of the Phantom Stones at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery this evening. Photo by guide Martin.

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Passage-grave 13, known in olden times as the Druid's Altar, at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, looking west to Quee...
09/06/2026

Passage-grave 13, known in olden times as the Druid's Altar, at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, looking west to Queen Maeve's Grave, the huge unexcavated monument on the summit of Knocknarea mountain. Photo by Carrowmore guide Martin.

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Two photographs of Passage-grave 7, known as the Kissing Stone since Victorian times, at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemet...
06/06/2026

Two photographs of Passage-grave 7, known as the Kissing Stone since Victorian times, at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery. The top image is a 2020 attempt to recreate the bottom photograph, which was taken by Belfast photographer Robert Welch during his 1896 visit to Ireland's largest neolithic burial ground.

The young lady in Welch's photograph is believed to be 9 year old Kate Gorevan who lived in a nearby cottage. Kate and her father showed Welch around the northern arc of passage-graves at Carrowmore, and feature in several of Welch's images.

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Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery guide Gerard leading a tour group from North America around Ireland's largest and oldest ...
05/06/2026

Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery guide Gerard leading a tour group from North America around Ireland's largest and oldest burial ground. The picture shows the group, from Four Shillings Short, surrounding the burial chamber at passage-grave 4, the Cromleac of the Phantom Stones, which is constructed on a raised platform of earth and stone.

The monument was named the Phantom Stones because the surrounding ring of large boulders were buried around 1840. This story has been confirmed by recent geophysical research. Photograph by guide Martin.

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A 1997 photograph of the excavation team and volunteers who worked on the dig at Listoghil or Passage-grave 51 at the Ca...
05/06/2026

A 1997 photograph of the excavation team and volunteers who worked on the dig at Listoghil or Passage-grave 51 at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery. Photograph by the late Professor Gõran Burenhult who led the excavations.

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Shadow casting at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery.All of the surviving burial chambers at Carrowmore have the potenti...
04/06/2026

Shadow casting at the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery.

All of the surviving burial chambers at Carrowmore have the potential to have functioned as sundials. At sunset and sunrise, moonset and moonrise, the surviving burial chambers cast shadows which touch the surrounding rings of stone where they survive.

The photographs show Passage-grave 4, known as the Cromleac of the Phantom Stones (the circle was buried around 1840), and Passage-grave 7, known as the Kissing Stone.

Photographs by guide Martin.

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Address

Carrowmore Visitor Centre, Carrowmore
Sligo
F91E638

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 5pm
Tuesday 10am - 5pm
Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 5pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+353719161534

Website

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