Carnanmore
Photo Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Carnanmore (also East Torr; Irish An Carnán Mór, "the great cairn") is a passage tomb in the townland of Coolnagoppoge, on the boundary with the townland of East Torr, near Cushendun on the north-east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
It is notable for its corbelled roof, which is rare in this type of monument, and for its carved decoration.
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Article
Carnanmore
A round cairn on a hill contains a quantity of quartz stones, typical of passage tombs, which here form a chamber.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
A round cairn on a hill contains a quantity of quartz stones, typical of passage tombs, which here form a chamber. The chamber is reached by a passage that begins in the south-west. Chamber and passage are separated only symbolically and together are just under 12.0 m long. The monument is covered by a corbelled roof, rare for this form.
InterpretationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
The decoration is outstanding. One of the upper granite stones carries three horseshoes, wavy lines and concentric circles. Together with Knockmany and Sess Kilgreen, Carnanmore is unique in Northern Ireland for decoration of this kind.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
The passage tombs of Torr Head and West Torr and the "Stone of Sorrows" lie nearby.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
A passage tomb is a burial chamber covered in earth or stone, with a narrow access passage made of large stones. Most passage tombs in Ireland and Britain were built in the fourth millennium BCE.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish and British passage tombs
A passage tomb is a burial chamber covered in earth or stone, with a narrow access passage made of large stones. The type is found along the Atlantic seaboard of Europe, and in Ireland and Britain passage tombs often lie in large clusters, called cemeteries. Ireland has four great ones, known as the "big four": Brú na Bóinne in the Boyne Valley, Loughcrew, Carrowkeel and Carrowmore, each with its own character. Most were built in the fourth millennium BCE.
The Boyne Valley is the heart of the tradition. Brú na Bóinne in County Meath comprises at least ninety monuments, dominated by Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, built in the 32nd century BCE. Newgrange, built around 3100 BCE, is older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. It has a façade of white quartz cobbles ringed by engraved kerbstones, and is aligned so that the rising sun on the winter solstice shines through a "roofbox" above the entrance and floods the inner chamber. Knowth, a large passage tomb surrounded by 17 smaller ones, holds the largest assemblage of megalithic art in Europe and is ringed by 127 kerbstones. Dowth has mostly been left as a ruin, with a crater from an 1847 excavation.
Across the Irish Sea, Bryn Celli Ddu on Anglesey is considered one of the finest passage tombs in Wales. Visitors can go through its stone passage into the chamber, and the site was once a henge with a stone circle; it may have been used to mark the summer solstice. Barclodiad y Gawres, "the giantess's apronful", on the same island is a cruciform passage grave with decorated stones.
When visiting, look at the kerbstones for carved spirals and lozenges, at the direction of the passage, and at the quartz and other stones that came from far away.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Passage grave, Wikipedia: Newgrange, Wikipedia: Knowth, Wikipedia: Brú na Bóinne, Wikipedia: Dowth, Wikipedia: Bryn Celli Ddu, Wikipedia: Barclodiad y Gawres, Wikipedia: Loughcrew, Wikipedia: Carrowmore · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photographs
1 photograph, each with its author and licence
Where it stands
United Kingdom
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 55°10′52″ N, 6°05′21″ WFor a GPS or map app: 55.18110, -6.08910
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
- Portal tomb (portal dolmen)Ballyvennaght
- Court tomb (court cairn)Court Tomb von Cloghafadd
- Court tomb (court cairn)Court Tomb von Ballyvoy
- Menhir (standing stone)Granny Rock2800–1800 BCE
Ossian’s Grave- Passage tomb (passage grave)Clegnagh Passage Tomb
- MegalithLemnagh Beg4000–2400 BCE
Craigs Dolmen4500–1800 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
1 source behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q21037152wikidata.org
Image files
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Carnanmore" (German), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (German): CarnanmoreCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q21037152CC0