Overview
The Bricklieve Mountains (Irish: An Bricshliabh, ‘the speckled mountains’) are a low limestone range in south County Sligo, named for the way loose quartz once made the slopes glint in the sun. They cover about 25 square kilometres and rise to two main tops, Carrowkeel at 321m and Keshcorran at 359m. What matters here is not the height but what sits on the ridges: the Carrowkeel passage tombs, a Neolithic cemetery above Lough Arrow.
The Carrowkeel passage tombs
On the limestone terraces above the western shore of Lough Arrow sits a scatter of Neolithic cairns, built in stages from around 3,500 BC by some of the first farming communities in the region. They are part of the dense passage-tomb landscape of County Sligo, now on Ireland’s UNESCO tentative list, the southern, inland counterpart to Carrowmore on the coast.
One of the cairns, Cairn G, has a roof-box above the entrance, aligned so that the setting sun around the summer solstice shines down the passage and into the chamber. It works on the same principle as Newgrange’s midwinter sunrise, but was built roughly five centuries earlier.
Early-twentieth-century excavations, including R.A.S. Macalister’s work on Cairn G, recovered Neolithic burial deposits from the tombs. Just along the ridge at Doonaveeragh are around 140 circular stone foundations, thought to be the remains of a prehistoric village whose people lived alongside this burial ground.
The Caves of Kesh
At the western end of the range, above the plain near the village of Keash, a string of around seventeen limestone caves opens in the cliff face, visible for miles. They are a separate place from Carrowkeel and have their own long history.
Excavations in the caves turned up the bones of animals that died out in Ireland after the last Ice Age. They are also deep in Irish myth, the setting for stories of trapped warriors and supernatural women, with the largest cave long linked to Cormac mac Airt.
Practical information
Protect the monuments – The National Monuments Service and OPW have documented damage at Carrowkeel. Keep off the cairns, stay out of the chambers and leave stones where they are.
Conservation – The Bricklieve Mountains and Keishcorran are a Special Area of Conservation, so keep to the paths and off the monuments.
Gear – This is open upland. Wear sturdy boots and bring warm, waterproof layers and water, as the weather can turn quickly.
Staffed alternative – For a staffed visit about Sligo’s prehistoric landscape, check opening at Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery.