Carnbane West at Loughcrew has a higher concentration of remains than Carnbane East, with a total of two large cairns and ten smaller ones still extant on the summit. However, Carnbane West is less accessible, and the walking time from the road for a fit person is about twenty minutes or so.

The impressive Cairn L is probably the most impressive of the sites atop Carnbane West, probably because it has an astronomical alignment which continues to function to this day. It is unusual in that it features a standing stone inside its chamber, and the layout of the chambered cairn is complex. The cairn at one time had a corbelled dome, which may have risen to about five metres before its destruction in times gone by. There is also a large basin in the large recess (pictured above).

The cairn has a total of 41 kerbstones, although when Eugene Conwell visited in 1863, he counted 42.

Jean McMann says that if you look out along the passage of this cairn, a hill to the south, once called Carrigbrack (speckled rock) or Sliabh Rua (red hill) is framed in the doorway.

The practice of pointing passages towards prominent horizon features is also evident at Cairn T on Carnbane East, which points to the Hill of Slane.

Conwell found 900 pieces of charred bone, 48 human teeth in perfect state of preservation and some round stone balls.

Another impressive site on Carnbane West is Cairn D, which has a circumference of 163 metres. It is the largest cairn in the whole Loughcrew complex, but regrettably suffered considerable damage at the hands of Eugene Conwell who had a dozen labouring men remove the cairn stones in an attempt to find a passage and chamber. After two weeks removing stones during the summer of 1868, he finally gave up, and left Cairn D with a huge crater in the top.

Before Conwell's investigation, he recorded that there were a total of 54 large flagstones. He mentioned that the kerb turned inward at a point facing southeast, about 110 degrees.

	The stone on the left is an unusual kerbstone located on the northwest of Cairn D. Above is the remains of another cairn with Cairn D in the background.

Examples of megalithic art at Carnbane West

Spirals on a sillstone at Cairn H. (Click for larger version)

Star-like design on stone at Cairn I. (Click for big version)

Designs on a stone at Cairn F.

Designs on a passage stone at Cairn H.

Back to the Loughcrew page | Inside Cairn T and Cairn L