Back in February of this year, at Imbolc, myself, Ken Williams and Lar Dooley witnessed the sunrise shining into the ancient passageway of Cairn U at Carnbane East, Loughcrew. That day, I noticed that when I was crouched in the chamber of Cairn U, the Hill of Tara was visible through the entrance of the passage. Based on that observation, I figured that a viewer on the Hill of Tara might see the sun setting over the hills of Loughcrew at Bealtaine (May) and Lughnasadh (August).
The Loughcrew Hills viewed from Duma na nGiall, Hill of Tara, with labels.
I was unable to get to Tara at Bealtaine, so I was determined to go there for Lughnasadh to see if I was right. This evening, standing on top of Duma na nGiall (Mound of the Hostages) at the Hill of Tara, I watched the sun get lower and lower in the western sky with my son, Finn. Above is a photo showing the hills as they appear from atop the Mound of the Hostages. It looked like it was heading for Loughcrew, but I couldn't be sure. So I watched and waited.
The sun setting over Cairn D, Carnbane West, and Carrigbrack, as viewed from Duma na nGiall.
And sure enough, as the sun set, it did so over Carnbane West and Carrigbrack, which appear almost as one hill as viewed from Tara. It was a beautiful sunset, and as the sun went down there was a lovely sun pillar (a vertical shaft of light extending upwards from the sun) reaching into the sky.
The sun pillar visible in the sky as the sun sets behind the hills of Loughcrew viewed from Tara.
So it appears that Duma na nGiall, the oldest monument on the Hill of Tara which is thought to date to the late Neolithic, around 5,000 years ago, is aligned with Loughcrew for (a) sunrise on Samhain/Imbolc viewed from Cairn U Loughcrew towards Tara; and (b) Bealtine/Lughnasadh sunset viewed from Tara towards Loughcrew.
The actual date of Lughnasadh this year was (I believe) August 7th, so the sun has moved a little bit to the south (left) since then. And I'm not sure how much the sun's position has changed at Lughnasadh from where it was 5,000 years ago. But it's would certainly appear that there is an alignment. Whether it was intended is another question entirely. But this is just one of many examples of alignments of sites over long distances. Seeing Tara framed by the ancient stones of Cairn U at Loughcrew in the cold dawn of Imbolc six months ago certainly was very fascinating to me. "This is hardly all coincidental," I said to myself. Indeed it might not be, but we may never know whether it was intended by the builders. All we can do now is watch and wonder.
The author atop Duma na nGiall watching the sunset over Loughcrew tonight. Picture: Finn Murphy.
I was extremely blessed to have been present at Cairn L on Carnbane West at Loughcrew this morning to witness a gloriously beautiful Samhain sunrise and the illumination of the chamber of this ancient cairn.
I hadn't been to Cairn L in a good few years, and to go there in the pre-dawn twilight, with Orion and Sirius looming above the ancient cairns was really something very special. But what was to follow was one of the highlights of many years of being present at ancient and sacred sites. The above video captures the essence of it, but of course nothing beats being there in person. At 7.44am, the sun appeared above the remains of a cairn on the summit of one of the Loughcrew Hills - known as Carrickbrack (from Irish carraig breac, meaning "speckled rock"), and also known as Sliabh Ruadh (Red Hill). One wonders just how ancient some of these place names really are.
Sunlight enters the passage of Cairn L and illuminates the limestone pillar in the chamber.
As the sun appeared, its light immediately streamed into the passage and chamber of Cairn L, where it illuminated a limestone pillar in the chamber - a feature that is unique to Cairn L and not found in other ancient cairns with astronomical alignments.
The stone pillar in the chamber is lit up by the sun at dawn on Samhain and Imbolc.
Martin Brennan and Jack Roberts and their team discovered this alignment in the early 1980s. It is one of many apparent alignments at Loughcrew. The most famous is the equinox alignment of Cairn T (the Hag's Cairn). Although I had been to Cairn L a couple of times, I had never been there at sunrise, and certainly not at Samhain! It was an immense pleasure, and a moment of pure joy and rapture to see the beautiful warm sunlight illuminating the interior of the cairn.
The significance of this event is that Samhain was a very important pre-Christian festival, possibly having its origins in prehistory. It was considered the beginning of winter, and as a so-called "cross-quarter" day, it marks the halfway point, measured in days, between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. But unlike Newgrange, where the sun shines into its chamber around winter solstice, Cairn L will be illuminated twice - once in early November and again in early February, for the ancient festival of Imbolc, or the February cross-quarter day.
The cairns at Loughcrew were said to have been dropped there by an ancient Cailleach or Garvoge.
In local folklore, it is said that a hag (Cailleach) carrying an apron full of stones created the cairns as she jumped from hill to hill, dropping piles of stones as she did so. Another tale says the hills are sacred to the Garvoge, a "monster woman", who formerly lived here. The following is an old verse, sometimes attributed to Jonathan Swift, about Garvoge and Loughcrew:
Determined now her tomb to build, Her ample skirt with stones she filled, And dropped a heap on Carnmore, Then stepped one thousand yards, to Loar, And dropped another goodly heap; And then with one prodigious leap Gained Carnbeg, and on its height, displayed the wonders of her might. And when she approached death's awful doom, Her chair was placed within the womb Of hills whose tops with heather bloom.(1)
The moment the sun rose from behind the summit of Carrickbrack.
One cannot help, while looking out from Cairn L towards the other hills (Carnbane East, which was formerly better known as Sliabh na Caillighe; and Carrickbrack), both of which are topped with cairns, of the Paps of Anu or the Paps of Morrigan, and to see in the landscape the earth goddess herself. Perhaps, if one allows a little imagination, one can think of the breasts and the belly of that great woman, so venerated in ancient Ireland, as the earth itself, topped with these cairns that are attributed to her as miraculous works. Ancient though she may be, the Cailleach will never be forgotten at Loughcrew, because the Cailleach IS Loughcrew.
References: (1) Conwell, Eugene Alfred, On Ancient Sepulchral Cairns on the Loughcrew Hills, Proceedings of the Roal Irish Academy (1836-1869), Vol. 9 (1864-1866), p. 358.
Special thanks to Lar Dooley and Ken Williams whose company was greatly appreciated. And to the landowner for allowing us access.
