Older than the pyramids, and built by the first people to farm this island. Passage tombs, court tombs and cairns are the oldest buildings in Ireland, and some of them still keep out the rain.
A passage tomb is one or more burial chambers under a mound of earth or stone, reached by a narrow passage built of large stones. When the covering is stone the whole thing is a cairn. They are Neolithic (the age of the first farmers, from about 4000 BC) and are found across western Europe, but nowhere in such concentration or on such a scale as the Boyne valley, where the great mounds were raised around 3200 BC.
The court tomb is the other great Irish type, and the older: more than 390 were built in Ireland between about 3900 and 3500 BC, with a hundred more in south-west Scotland. They are recognised by an open courtyard leading to one or more roofed and partitioned burial chambers, and many were built in phases and reused a thousand years later in the Bronze Age. Wedge tombs, gallery graves entered without an antechamber, came later still.
What they were for beyond burial is the question nobody can settle. The alignment of some passages to the midwinter or equinox sun is not in doubt; what it meant to the people who built them is. This list gathers the tombs and cairns with a documented article and a location; the true number of megalithic tombs in Ireland runs into the thousands.
Sources: Wikipedia — Passage grave ↗ · Wikipedia — Court cairn ↗ · Wikipedia — Gallery grave ↗
Craigs Dolmen (also known as the Broad Stone) is a megalithic tomb in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is 5 mi (8 km) south of Ballymoney, off Finvoy Road, at a height of 200m on the Long Mountain. Craigs Dolmen passage tomb is a State Care Historic Monument in the townland of Craigs, in Borough of Ballymoney.
Dooey's Cairn, or Ballymacaldrack Court Tomb, is a prehistoric site of the Neolithic period, situated near Dunloy, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is named after Andrew Dooey, who owned the land; the monument was granted to the state in 1975 by his family. It is maintained by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.
Annaghmare Court Tomb, also known as The Black Castle, is a chamber tomb located near to the town of Crossmaglen in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is one of many megalithic tombs on the island of Ireland.
Finn McCools Fingers (or "Shantemon Stone Row") are a set of five standing stones on Shantemon mountain in County Cavan. The name is derived from the story that giant Celtic warrior Fionn mac Cumhaill lost a hand in battle. The stones are arranged in a south-east/north-west orientation.
Beenalaght (or An Seisear, meaning The Six) is an alignment of six standing stones located on a flat pasture in Reanthesure, 0.5km west of the village of Bweeng, County Cork, Ireland. It is 13.6km (8.5 miles) south-west of Mallow, on a hill to the west of the Mallow-Coachford Road.
Breeny More Stone Circle is an axial stone circle and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland.
Carrigaphooca Stone Circle is a stone circle and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland. It is situated 4.4 km (2.7 mi) west of Macroom, immediately east of Carrigaphooca Castle, north of the N22, and near the confluence of the River Sullane and River Foherish. The name means "stone of the púca" (ghost or fairy).
Clodagh Standing Stones is a pair of standing stones forming a stone row and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland.
The Coolcoulaghta Standing Stones are a pair of standing stones forming a stone row and a National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland.
Farranahineeny Stone Row is a stone row and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland.
Knocknakilla is the site of a megalithic complex (grid reference W297843) situated between Macroom and Millstreet, in County Cork, Ireland. It is set in blanket peatland on the north-west upper slopes of Musherabeg mountain and is thought to be 3500 years old.
Labbacallee Wedge Tomb (Irish: Leaba Chaillí, meaning 'hag's bed') is a large pre-historic burial monument, located 8 km (5.0 mi) north-west of Fermoy and 2 km (1.2 mi) south-east of Glanworth, County Cork, Ireland. It is the largest Irish wedge tomb and dates from roughly 2300 BC. The tomb is a National Monument in State Care no. 318.
Cloghanmore (translated as "the great stone heap" is a megalithic chamber tomb of the court tomb (or court cairn) type located about 8 km east from Carrick in Malin More, Glencolmcille, in County Donegal, Ireland.
Ballyalton Court Cairn is a single court grave situated on a rock outcrop by the roadside 0.5 miles from Ballyalton village, which is 2.25 miles east of Downpatrick, County Down, Northern Ireland, at grid ref 531 448. The tomb contained human bones, flint implements and pottery now known as Ballyalton bowls.
Legananny (believed to derive from Irish: Liagán Áine, meaning "Áine's standing stone") is a townland located 5.6 km (3.5 mi) north of Leitrim in County Down, Northern Ireland. It covers approximately 7.8 km2 (1,918.23 acres). The townland lies within the civil parish of Drumgooland and the historic barony of Iveagh Upper, Lower Half.
Mount Venus (or Cill an Véineas in Irish) is a megalithic site on the Mount Venus Road in Edmondstown, County Dublin, Ireland. It is a national heritage site. It has been described by Borlase as one of the most magnificent in the world. It encompasses a massive capstone weighing in at 44 tons.
Carrownlisheen Wedge Tomb is a wedge-shaped gallery grave and National Monument located on Inishmaan, Ireland.
The Turoe stone is a 1.2 metre tall granite stone decorated in a Celtic style normally located in the village of Bullaun, County Galway, Ireland, 6 km north of Loughrea off the R350 regional road. It probably dates to about the period 100 BC to AD 100.
Eightercua Irish: Íoċtar Ċua (or possibly Íoċtar Ċuan), meaning ' "the place or holy place or harbor" that is Íoċ or "below" - the word is a specifically geographical term that does not adequately translate into English which does not designate a "place down below" with categorically geographical differentiation') is a four-stone…
Reask (Irish: Riasc) is a ruined early Monastic site located 1 km east of Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, County Kerry, Ireland. The remains of the site include the low remnants of buildings and enclosure walls and a cross-slab standing stone which sits in the middle of the compound.
Lough Scur (Irish: Loch an Scoir, meaning 'the lake of the horses, pasturage, troop') is a freshwater lake in south County Leitrim, northwest Ireland. It is part of the Shannon–Erne Waterway. Human settlements have been present nearby since the New Stone Age. Modern features include quays and moorings.
Townleyhall passage grave is a chamber tomb located around 2 km north of Dowth tomb. It is part of the megalithic complex of Brú na Bóinne in County Louth, Ireland. It is located outside the World Heritage Site core area but (just) inside the buffer zone.
The court tomb of Behy is a megalithic monument in the townland of the same name (Irish: An Bheithigh, meaning 'birch land'), near Belderrig in the north of County Mayo, Ireland.
The Dolmen of the Four Maols is a cist and National Monument located in County Mayo, Ireland.
Brú na Bóinne (Irish: [ˈbˠɾˠuː n̪ˠə ˈbˠoːn̠ʲə], "mansion or palace of the Boyne"), also called the Boyne Valley tombs, is an ancient monument complex and ritual landscape in County Meath, Ireland, located in a bend of the River Boyne.
Knowth (; Irish: Cnóbha) is a prehistoric tomb overlooking the River Boyne in County Meath, Ireland. It comprises a large passage tomb surrounded by 17 smaller tombs, built during the Neolithic era around 3200 BC. It contains the largest assemblage of megalithic art in Europe.
The Fál (Irish: [fˠaːlˠ]) or Lia Fáil (Irish: [ˌl̠ʲiə ˈfˠaːlʲ]; "Stone of Fál") is a stone at the Inauguration Mound (Irish: an Forrad) on the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland, which served as the coronation stone for the King of Tara and hence High King of Ireland. It is also known as the Stone of Destiny or Speaking Stone.
Monknewtown (Irish: Baile Nua na Manach), historically called Rathenskin, is a townland 3 km east of Slane in County Meath, Ireland.
Newgrange (Irish: Sí an Bhrú) is a prehistoric monument in County Meath in Ireland, placed on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, eight kilometres (five miles) west of the town of Drogheda.
The Newgrange cursus is a Neolithic monument used as a ceremonial procession route within the Brú na Bóinne complex. The ancient trackway is 100m long and 20m wide. It is located at Newgrange, in County Meath, Ireland.
Mullyash Kerbed Cairn is a kerb cairn (bowl barrow) and National Monument located in County Monaghan, Ireland.
Carricknagat Megalithic Tombs are megalithic tombs and a National Monument located in County Sligo, Ireland.
Carrowmore (Irish: An Cheathrú Mhór, 'the great quarter') is a large group of megalithic monuments on the Coolera Peninsula to the west of Sligo, Ireland. They were built in the 4th millennium BC, during the Neolithic (New Stone Age).
Heapstown Cairn (Irish: Carn Ochtriallach) is a large ancient cairn and protected National Monument in County Sligo, Ireland. It was built in the Neolithic, around 3000 BC, and is believed to cover a passage tomb. The cairn is one of the largest in Ireland and is near Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery.
Listoghil (Irish: Lios an tSeagail) is the large central monument in the Carrowmore group of prehistoric tombs in County Sligo, Ireland. The Carrowmore group consists of about 35 monuments surrounding Listoghil. It was numbered as Carrowmore 51 by George Petrie in 1837 and this designation is still used.
Miosgán Meadhbha, anglicized Miosgan Meva and also called Maeve's Cairn, is a large cairn on the summit of Knocknarea in County Sligo, Ireland. It is thought to conceal a passage tomb from the Neolithic (New Stone Age). It is the largest cairn in Ireland, excepting those at Brú na Bóinne in Meath.
Ashleypark Burial Mound is a passage tomb and National Monument in the townland of Ashleypark, County Tipperary, Ireland.
The Timoney Stones are a collection of standing stones forming a National Monument in County Tipperary, Ireland.
Knockmany passage tomb, or Anya's Cove, is an ancient burial monument on the summit of Knockmany Hill, near the village of Augher in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the remains of a Neolithic passage tomb and its stones are decorated with rare megalithic art.
Rathcoran (Irish: Ráth Cuaráin) is an ancient passage tomb and surrounding hillfort atop Baltinglass Hill, County Wicklow, Ireland. The passage tomb is contemporaneous with Newgrange, i.e. it was built 3500–3000 BC, during the Neolithic. The ringfort dates to the Bronze Age, c. 1000 BC.
Descriptions are Wikipedia's own opening lines, used under CC BY-SA 4.0 with a link to each article; the list and the coordinates come from the same place. Nothing here is a guide to access — many of these stand on private land.
A passage tomb has a burial chamber under a mound, reached along a narrow stone passage. A court tomb has an open, unroofed courtyard leading into roofed burial chambers, and is generally older — most were built between 3900 and 3500 BC.
Neolithic: the court tombs from about 3900 BC, the great passage tombs of the Boyne valley around 3200 BC, which makes them older than Stonehenge's sarsens and the pyramids of Giza.
Thousands, most of them unexcavated. This page has the 40 with a documented article and a location behind them.
Know one that is missing? Thousands of passage tombs & cairns have no article and no pin — a townland name and a rough location is enough to start.
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