Summit of Slieve Donard Cairn(s) View all images for Summit of Slieve Donard (6 images) View all content for Summit of Slieve Donard (9 posts)

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The unloved 'greater', southern cairn.

Comments (10)
Got me wondering if this is the highest cairn in Ireland? Any on higher hills in the south?	Posted by thelonious 13th August 2020ce
Good question. It is said, at 850 or so metres, that it's the highest passage grave in Britain and Ireland, but that's said about Gullion and Seefin too. There are cairns marked on Galtymore mountain at archaeology.ie, some of which are on or around the 900 metre mark, but none of these are on the OS map. You've got me wondering too now. More investigation needed.	Posted by ryaner 13th August 2020ce
Highest pile of stones of age (for want of a better description) in Scotland I can think of is on Morven at 872m. Question mark over the age of that one maybe. Very tricky with dates for upland cairns in Scotland. Tinto at 711m is a definite ancient cairn, surely there's one higher in Scotland than that. Calling Drew, Gladman, anyone? Highest in Wales and England? Most remote cairn, that's another question. I like stuff like this, highest, lowest, most northern, westerly etc etc. Bit sad I know :-)	Posted by thelonious 13th August 2020ce
Highest surviving prehistoric cairn in Wales is Carnedd Llewelyn at 3,490ft... although Snowdon summit itself (Yr Wyddfa) was probably the highest once upon a time. England is perhaps Grasmoor at 2,795ft? Although one would've thought at least some of the 3,000'ers must surely have had them once, now lost? Scotland is another question because even some absolutely certain ones I've seen aren't even acknowledged as such... probably due to there not being enough mountaineering archaeologists who know what they're looking at!	Posted by GLADMAN 13th August 2020ce
I agree with Gladman, we've seen several that are the same, there is probably a lot in Scotland, I've certainly sent at least 12 new sites to Canmore including, astonishingly Pittenderich (not high), Geallaig must be reasonably high, we've both seen Kerloch and there are some in Perthshire/Angus I know about but yet to visit. But you'd think the Cairngorms, clue in name, must have something somewhere.........................	Posted by drewbhoy 14th August 2020ce
These things play on the mind... Contender for Most Remote Cairn in Wales - at least of the significant ones - might be Drygarn Fawr in deepest Mid Wales....	Posted by GLADMAN 15th August 2020ce
And I let them play on mine :-) The remotest for Scotland probably is on St Kilda, which I missed last time but hopefully see next time	Posted by drewbhoy 15th August 2020ce
Herity, in "Irish Passage Graves" says that, after Harris's description in 1744, "...[it] would indicate the presence of a passage grave chamber in this cairn. If this is so, it was the highest passage grave in Western Europe." The book was published in 1974 so it's possible there have been discoveries since then.	Posted by ryaner 16th August 2020ce
Interesting - highest and Neolithic? Don't know why but always think of upland cairns as bronze age, if I remember to think at all!	Posted by thelonious 17th August 2020ce
The Irish ‘sequence’ goes first court, then portal and passage, then wedge tombs, with overlaps along the way. Some of the upland ‘cairns’ have passages and chambers and have been dated to the neolithic. Which is not to say that some cairns don’t date from the bronze age. Some of the antiquarian literature I’ve come across calls them all bronze age cairns, but the writers were writing in a time before carbon dating.	Posted by ryaner 19th August 2020ce
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