Carrowtrasna
DatedEst. 2800–1800 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
Carrowtrasna (Irish An Cheathrú Trasna) is a pillar-like standing stone, or menhir, about 3.5 metres high, south-west of Kilcummin on the north-east coast of County Mayo, Ireland. It stands at the southern end of Lackan Bay, at the end of a low bank or dyke.
The stone has been given a typological date estimate of 2800 to 1800 BCE.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Carrowtrasna
FolkloreSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarrowtrasnaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarrowtrasnaCC BY-SA 4.0
Local folklore holds that the stone was set up by St. Patrick. Stones of this kind, however, were erected in prehistoric times.
About one kilometre to the east, near the Kilcummin Holy well, stands the slender Carrowteelagh menhir.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarrowtrasnaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarrowtrasnaCC BY-SA 4.0
About one kilometre to the east, near the Kilcummin Holy well, stands the slender Carrowteelagh menhir. A further 800 metres to the east, near Kilcummin and close to the beach, stand the two St Cumin’s Grave menhirs.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarrowtrasnaCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (German): CarrowtrasnaCC BY-SA 4.0
Menhirs are found across Europe, Africa and Asia, with a concentration in Western Europe, notably in Ireland, Great Britain and Brittany. In Ireland they are usually located in farmers’ fields and are heavily worn by weather and livestock. Theories about their purpose remain speculative, with hypotheses including rituals, territorial markers and elements of an ideological system. Standing stones are usually difficult to date, because they were set up in many different periods of prehistory.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish standing stones
Ireland is rich in menhirs, standing stones that are usually located in farmers' fields and heavily worn by the weather and by livestock. Menhirs are found across Europe, Africa and Asia, with a concentration in Western Europe, notably in Ireland, Great Britain and Brittany. Theories concerning their purpose remain speculative, with hypotheses including rituals, territorial markers and elements of an ideological system. Standing stones are usually difficult to date, because they were set up in many different periods of prehistory.
One Irish stone is well dated by its art. The Turoe Stone, a 1.2-metre granite boulder in the village of Bullaun, County Galway, probably dates to about 100 BCE to 100 CE. The top half is covered with a continuous abstract curvilinear design in the La Tène Celtic style, similar to the Castlestrange Stone in County Roscommon. It is National Monument number 327. For centuries the stone was a curiosity at a lios, a "fairy fort", some 3 kilometres away, before it was moved to Turoe Farm; in 2025 it was moved temporarily for conservation. The "fairy fort" name is a folk tradition.
Ogham, the early medieval alphabet of Ireland, was cut on the edges of some standing stones. In Ireland it is traditional to carry a stone up from the bottom of a hill and add it to the cairn at the top.
The Atlas treats isolated Irish stones as undated unless there is excavation or art to show their age.
When visiting, look at the surface for carving.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Menhir, Wikipedia: Turoe Stone, Wikipedia: List of menhirs, Wikipedia: Ogham · CC BY-SA 4.0
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 2800–1800 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for menhirs in Ireland; this site has not been dated itself. Standing stones are associated with the Beaker people of the European late Neolithic and early Bronze Age c. 2800-1800 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 54°16′10″ N, 9°14′45″ WFor a GPS or map app: 54.26933, -9.24589
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.
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Cashel Cairn3700–2900 BCE
- MegalithWedge Tomb von Breastagh3300–2900 BCE
- Stone circleRathfran Stone Circle3300–2500 BCE
Rathfranpark Wedge Tomb2500–2000 BCE
Rathlacken3750–2900 BCE- Rathlackan Tomb3750–2900 BCE
Court Tomb von Carbad More3750–2900 BCE
Rathoonagh Court Tomb3750–2900 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q15793652wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
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Lore, kept apart
Legends and claims
These are stories and claims reported by the sources. They are not evidence, and they never stand in for the dating above.
- Tradition
Der Menhir von Carrowtrasna (irisch An Cheathrú Trasna) ist ein etwa 3,5 Meter hoher, pfeilerartiger Menhir (engl.
Der Menhir von Carrowtrasna (irisch An Cheathrú Trasna) ist ein etwa 3,5 Meter hoher, pfeilerartiger Menhir (engl. Standing Stone), der südwestlich von Kilcummin, an der Nord-Ost-Küste des County Mayo in Irland am Südende der Lackan Bay, am Ende eines niedrigen Walles oder eines Deiches steht. Die lokale Folklore besagt zwar, dass der Stein von St. Patrick errichtet wurde, aber Steine dieser Art wurden während der Vorzeit aufgestellt.
Source
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Carrowtrasna" (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): CarrowtrasnaCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q15793652CC0