Cairn, Deerpark (Coshlea By.), Co. Limerick

Co. Limerick |

Cairns

Cairn, Deerpark (Coshlea By.), Co. Limerick

On the summit of Duntryleague Hill in County Limerick, sitting at 922 feet above sea level within commercial forestry, there is a prehistoric cairn that does not appear on any historic Ordnance Survey Ireland maps.

The only official marker at this location was once a surveyor's triangulation station, the kind of concrete pillar used by mapmakers to establish fixed reference points across the landscape. Beneath and around it, largely unnoticed, lay the remains of something far older: a round, heather-covered mound roughly 19 metres across, its true nature obscured by peat and furze and the slow accumulation of centuries.

The monument was first noted by Leask in 1932, recorded in the National Monuments of Ireland Field Monument Files as 'the kerb of a larger denuded cairn', meaning a cairn from which much of the original stone had been removed or had eroded away over time, leaving only fragments of its outer edge. A cairn, in this context, is a mound of stones built over a burial or ritual site during prehistory, often edged with a ring of larger upright or recumbent stones called a kerb. A more thorough survey came in 1987, when Ó Nualláin and Cody documented the mound in detail, noting stretches of dry-walled kerb still visible at the north-east, east-south-east, and north-west, ranging from three to eight metres in length. The kerbstones themselves vary considerably in size, from 35 centimetres to 1.5 metres in length. The mound is not isolated; a passage tomb and a further cairn lie roughly 150 metres to the west, suggesting this hilltop once held considerably more significance than its quiet, forested present implies. By the time of the 1987 survey, someone had also dug a small, shallow hole into the top of the mound, leaving upcast stones and earth piled beside it.

The site sits 70 metres south-west of the townland boundary with Snugborough, within forestry on the Deerpark townland of the Coshlea barony. Access on foot through managed forestry can be uneven, and low-growing heather and peat cover much of the mound's surface, making the kerb difficult to read at a glance. The clearest stretches of visible stonework are at the north-west edge, where vegetation clearance alongside the mound at some earlier point exposed approximately eight metres of kerb. The monument is identifiable on Google Earth orthoimages, which may help with orientation before a visit. Visitors should look carefully at ground level around the mound's perimeter rather than at its relatively flat top, since that is where the structural evidence is most legible.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Cairn, Deerpark (Coshlea By.), Co. Limerick. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 50 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.