Knocknarea

Also known as:
Maeve's Cairn and Miosgan Meadhbha
Nearest town:
Strandhill (2km WNW)
OS reference:
G625346
OS sheets:
16, 25
Latitude:
54° 15' 31.57 N
Longitude:
8° 34' 31.77 W
Added to TMA by

Sites within Knocknarea

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Images

Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by Nucleus

We took a rest while walking uphill from Grange North to Knocknarea on a beautiful (very) warm day in May, stunning views in all directions
Visited May 2010

Image credit: Uwe Häberle 05/2010
Nucleus
Nucleus Nov 1, 2017
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by costaexpress

And finally Queen Maeve reveals herself. Apparently this site has never been excavated, personally hope it stays that way, its a magical place at the moment and if they find nothing what does it become?

costaexpress
costaexpress May 14, 2017
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by costaexpress

Exciting part of the ‘new walk’ as it climbs up through the trees, more strenuous than it looks but great fun

costaexpress
costaexpress May 14, 2017
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by costaexpress

Setting off from the beach at Strandhill to walk up Knocknarea. Looked a bit ominous from here, however, I was up and down within 3 hours.

costaexpress
costaexpress May 14, 2017
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by ryaner

Knocknarea, sacred hill, looms large over Sligo town, Saturday evening, 1/11/08

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Nov 3, 2008
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by ryaner

Taken from the north-west near Sligo Airport, this ‘side’ of Knocknarea is very dramatic with its sheer cliffs. Yet there is only the single court-tomb in this vicinity, in comparison to the mad clutter of tombs on the other ‘side’.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jan 21, 2008
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by bawn79

How big is Queen Maeves cairn, well thats me below it, its massive

Image credit: Bawn79
bawn79
bawn79 Sep 29, 2006
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by CianMcLiam

Queen Maeve’s Cairn bathed in an all too brief shaft of sun on an otherwise dull, gloomy day.

Image credit: Ken Williams/www.ShadowsandStone.com 2006
CianMcLiam
CianMcLiam Aug 8, 2006
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by CianMcLiam

Knocknarea at night, Maeve’s Cairn is not visible from this angle along the south shoreline of the peninsula

Image credit: Ken Williams - www.shadowsandstone.com
CianMcLiam
CianMcLiam Jan 30, 2006
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by CianMcLiam

Taken at sunset 24/4/05, from Tomb 7 at Carrowmore

Image credit: Ken Williams (CianMcLiam)
CianMcLiam
CianMcLiam Apr 27, 2005
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by Cursuswalker

Strandhill and the coast from the north east edge of Knocknarea.
August 2003

Image credit: Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker Oct 14, 2003
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by Cursuswalker

Knocknarea from Strandhill Caravan Park, looking south east.

This doesn’t really capture the wonderful way the hill looms over the end of the peninsula.

Note Maeve’s Tomb not visible from this area.

Image credit: Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker Oct 9, 2003
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by Cursuswalker

Some of the words written on the ground around Maeve’s Tomb, looking north west. from the top of the Tomb.

One of the reasons why it was shrinking!

Image credit: Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker Oct 9, 2003
Image of Knocknarea (Cairn(s)) by Cursuswalker

The Cairn on top of Maeve’s Tomb on top of Knocknarea, looking north east.

The highest two stones had just been added my myself and my father from the beach at Strandhill, just to the West. Very strange to be adding to a site in this way!

There used to be a tradition of removing stones from the tomb for good luck. The tradition has has been partly reversed in recent years.

Image credit: Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker Oct 9, 2003

Articles

Knocknarea

Conservation plan required for cairn of Queen Maeve atop Knocknarea

ryaner
ryaner Nov 13, 2019

A meeting of Sligo County Council has heard there is an incredible amount of damage being done to one of the most significant historic monuments in the country, the stone cairn over Queen Maeve’s grave on the summit of Knocknarea.

Sinn Fein Councillor Chris MacManus says a small number of people climb on top of the cairn while Fine Gael Councillor Sinead Maguire says people can be seen coming down the mountain carrying rocks from the cairn.

A local resident in the area also told Ocean FM News recently that some people have been digging up quartz stones from around the base of the cairn.

More (including a short poscast): oceanfm.ie/2019/11/12/conservation-plan-required-for-cairn-of-queen-maeve/?fbclid=IwAR1a2nXG8r302c0nimDg6CjVi-rTSgn2ZOhumlnKeEYZfIlfPttgmVOE-xA

Knocknarea

thelonious
thelonious Sep 5, 2019

26/08/2019 – I was pretty excited waking up. Today the plan was a visit to Knocknarea then on to Carrowmore megalithic cemetery. They looked on TMA to be two wow sites. It was misty yesterday so I was a bit worried about the hill having its cloudy hat on again today. A quick peek through the curtains and I was happily greeted by the morning sun. It was a good start.

There’s a good bus service from Sligo to Strandhill (S2 – every hour). A 20 minute journey took us to just north of the big hill along the coast at Mannionstown (Brees Pub). From here there is a great signposted walk up Knocknarea. It’s not a huge gain, maybe around 300 metres. The hill looks pretty great from this side, very steep. The track was good. There is a section of walkway that was hard going but we took our time. It wasn’t a day for rushing. The top of Knocknarea is quite flat but you still have to get close before you see the cairn and then there it is! What can I say about Maeve’s cairn, it’s big, very big. It must be a good 10 metres in height. Standing next to it, the cairn just seems to grow. Stone upon stone, taller and wider. Close up my vision was just one of cairn and nothing else. It’s just fantastic.

We circled it once and then walked a little way north to the ruined cairn there. It was easier to take in from here and also the surrounding view which is very good. Luckily it was very quiet on the hill today. It’s a fine place to sit with your sandwiches and a brew and just look out to sea and along the coast. I could have stayed all day.

I liked the stones in the big cairn. There’s a lot of fossils in them, coral maybe, just guessing. Worth mentioning also that there are a lot of signs round the cairn and also on the way up asking folk not to climb the cairn. Seems a reasonable request considering how many people climb Knocknarea each year.

After one last goodbye to big Maeve and a look at the stones to the south we headed down SE towards the carpark on what looks like the main route up. It’s not as steep as the north side. Near the bottom you can loop back round the hill to the start again but we carried on, walking down the quiet roads to our next destination – Carrowmore megalithic cemetery.

Knocknarea

GLADMAN
GLADMAN Mar 20, 2010

Although rising to a relatively modest 1,078ft, the incredible mini-mountain of Knocknarea (Cnoc na Riabh) appears much higher to the passing traveller, the result of its isolated coastal position emphasising its full elevation literally from sea level. Indeed, water would appear to be key to its significance within the landscape, the deep incursions of Sligo Harbour (to the north) and Ballysadare Bay (to the south) combining with the Garvoge River, draining Lough Gill (to the east), to form the peninsular upon which the mountain stands, to the west of the great Carrowmore megalithic cemetery. That Knocknarea and the latter are linked, I guess, must go without saying?

Knocknarea is visible – nay, dominates the skyline – for many miles around the locality, making it a suitable spot to erect surely one of the most enigmatic pile of stones in all Ireland... Miosgan Meadhbha, or Maeve’s Cairn. Unexcavated, like nearby Heapstown Cairn, the monument is on a par with the great passage graves of Bru na Boinne in terms of size, but, for me, eclipses them in terms of visual impact and siting. Although generally thought to contain a burial chamber (or two) – oh come on, it must, surely? – I suppose we could even have an Irish variant upon the Silbury theme if this was found not be the case after all? Hmm. Unlikely, I think.

The monument is bordered by a substantial bank and several smaller cairns, further emphasising its stature, as well as a small prehistoric settlement to the north east. And of course there’s the sweeping sea views across Sligo Bay and beyond Sligo itself to the elegant escarpment of Yeat’s Benbulben, the evocative scene enhanced by cloud swirling around the cairn and across the summit plateau. Suffice to say if there isn’t a great queen buried within... there bloody well should be!

Knocknarea truly has it all, so you won’t be surprised to know that there’s a price to pay for an audience with Queen Maeve... that of a steep climb. I’d suggest the easiest approach is the obvious one, via a pretty rough track starting from the Grange North car park to the south east.. not easy, but within the capabilities of the average mortal, I’d have thought. We took approx 45 minutes, although this included a diversion to eulogise with a typically rosy cheeked farmer over the beauty of his two magnificent horses whilst his cattle curiously looked on. Bear in mind the aforementioned cloud, however. Although a mini-mountain, normal rules apply, so take care.

Knocknarea

Cursuswalker
Cursuswalker Oct 11, 2003

Knocknarea dominates the landscape of its peninsula gloriously. We were camping at Strandhill and by the time we had been there for 3 days I was itching to climb it.
I had read about the old tradition of taking stones from Maeve’s Tomb at the top, and how the local council were trying to encourage a new tradition of ADDING stones to the tomb instead, and I was mightily tempted to carry a large stone all the way up the hill form the beach at Strandhill.
In the event my father joined me in the climb and time constraints led to our driving half the distance and then walking from the car park at the base of the steep climb up its south east side.
The path is treacherously rough, a REAL path I prefer to call it, and you really felt you had earned reaching the top. From there it is a short easy walk to Maeve’s Tomb, which looks close up distressingly like…well a pile of stones. But then again I’m from a neck of the woods where we don’t have that much stone to pile up, so that was probably just me.
The real interest is on top of Maeve’s Tomb, where there is another small cairn. In my photo of this all the ground around it is the top of the Tomb, which is a lot grassier than one expects. From the top you can also see words spelt out in the heathland all around the Tomb with rocks from it, presumably for good luck or in remembrance of those passed. Okay, so this does involve taking stones from the Tomb, but it was very touching to see nevertheless.
We added our stones from Strandhill beach to the cairn and it felt a great honour to add to the building of an ancient site. I did my druid thing and honoured the site with a libation of water, then we enjoyed the view, which is incredible.

From Maeve’s Tomb we walked northwest to the edge of Knocknarea, to look down on Strandhill where we were staying. Wonderful views.
Returning to the Tomb I went to sit on the cairn at the top again. This time I was attacked by wasps, which I took to be a message to leave!

Sites within 20km of Knocknarea

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