Cairn, Lisgoogan, Co. Clare
Co. Clare |
Cairns
In the townland of Lisgoogan, in County Clare, there is a cairn.
That much is certain. A cairn, in the most general sense, is a deliberate accumulation of stones, and in an Irish context the term covers everything from modest field clearance heaps to substantial prehistoric burial monuments raised over the dead. Which of those categories this particular structure belongs to, and what else might be said about it with any confidence, is not currently a matter of public record.
The site is a recognised archaeological monument, meaning it has been identified, assigned a classification, and given a place in the national inventory of such structures. Clare is a county with no shortage of prehistoric remains, from the portal tombs of the Burren to the wedge tombs that cluster across its limestone uplands, and a cairn in this landscape carries at least the possibility of considerable antiquity. Lisgoogan itself is a small rural townland, the kind of place where field boundaries and low mounds can pass unremarked for generations before anyone thinks to record them formally.
Beyond its existence and its location, the details of this particular cairn remain, for the moment, out of reach.