The hawthorn trees form a ring around the middle, unclassified barrow.
Image credit: ryaner
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The trees look like they add to the site, really nice. Makes me wonder if trees, flowers, etc were ever somehow incorporated in/around sites when first built, for colour and a connection to nature? I always think wild flowers and tall grasses look so nice around stones at this time of year.
You'd like to think so, indeed. And the whitethorns have certainly helped preserve such places in Ireland. The fairies would be much displeased if you cut them. It wasn't worth the risk.
It was quite an enchanting place altogether with each individual barrow having it's own character(istics). There seems to be a degree of deliberation with the trees here and there is an archaeological feature called 'designed landscape - tree ring' in the list at the SMR here webgis.archaeology.ie/historicenvironment/ though this type of monument is much more modern than the barrows at Coolcreen.