Probably the strangest site I've visited. There may be a path up to here from Hollywood village but I couldn't find one (I didn't look too hard). I parked at the junction at N952035 and headed up the steep way.
This is on the St. Kevin's Way and that may account for the sculptured chair (with teddy) that I encountered on arrival. St. Kevin's Chair and St. Kevin's Bed are features below in Hollywood glen. At first I thought that someone had brought up an ordinary wooden chair in a kind of Flann O'Brien gesture, but no, this is actually a metal chair, sculptured and painted so well that it wasn't until I touched it that I realised that it was metal. It's placed on a promonotory below the cairn with fantastic views to the south-west and west. Wacky!
On to the cairn itself. It's been robbed out. It's quite large, 25 metres on the longer axis with evidence of multiple cists/burials. There's a little church-like structure on the west end, constructed with no little skill in what I reckon is an attempt to christianise the site. Near the centre is what I take to be the remains of a central burial with a large capstone. This has been robbed out and thrown back together again.
The all round views from up here are great. Poulaphouca reservoir glistens to the north-east, you can see the ESB power-station on Turlough Hill to the east, Church mountain with its cairn is to the south and the mad expanse of west Wicklow and what seems like all of Kildare, Offaly and Laois are to the west.
Dan Clancy was a local man who grew up on Slievecorragh and often walked its slopes with his family.
Dan and his many siblings spent many happy childhood days there, and often went up in the evening to watch the sun set.
Clancy later emigrated to New York, where he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He passed away in 2004 at the young age of 31.
Following his death, his brother Andrew – a sculptor – created the chair as a memorial to Dan. Andrew Clancy, is said to have based it on one in the family kitchen.
There are many teddy bears left on the chair by hikers and those wishing to commemorate him. The ring on the chair and the original teddy bear were donated by Clancy’s partner in New York.
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Posted by ryaner
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