Creevykeel Court Tomb

Beside the N15 about two kilometres north-east of Cliffoney in County Sligo lies what is considered the largest and finest example of a court tomb in Ireland, one of five megalithic monuments in the area, dating from the Neolithic between 4000 and 2500 BC. A long trapezoidal cairn of local grey sandstone, held by a stone revetment, opens through an entrance passage into an oval inner court fifteen metres by nine, whose largest stones flank the doorway to the two-part main chamber, once roofed by corbelling and floored with cobbles. Hugh O'Neill Hencken excavated it in 1935 for the Harvard archaeological mission, removing the whole cairn and replacing the stones, and found a polished diorite axe, pots, quartz crystals, a flint knife and an arrowhead, with the bones of sheep, pig and ox, fish and periwinkles. Local folklore tells of lights, fairies and a white hare. The tomb is free, unstaffed and a quick, easy roadside stop from the small car park beside it.