Overview
The Bricklieve Mountains (Irish: An Bricshliabh, ‘the speckled mountains’) are a low limestone range in south County Sligo, named for the way loose quartz once made the slopes glint in the sun. They cover about 25 square kilometres and rise to two main tops, Carrowkeel at 321m and Keshcorran at 359m. But you don’t come here for the height. You come for what’s on the ridges: the Carrowkeel passage tombs, one of the great Neolithic cemeteries in Ireland, and a place you can often have largely to yourself.
The Carrowkeel passage tombs
On the limestone terraces above the western shore of Lough Arrow sits a scatter of fourteen Neolithic cairns, built in stages from around 3,500 BC by some of the first farming communities in the region. It’s part of the dense passage-tomb landscape of County Sligo now on Ireland’s UNESCO tentative list, the southern, inland counterpart to Carrowmore on the coast.
If you find one thing here, make it Cairn G. It has a roof-box above the entrance, aligned so that the setting sun around the summer solstice shines down the passage and into the chamber – the same trick as Newgrange’s midwinter sunrise, except this one was built roughly five centuries earlier and, on the right evening, you’ll likely be the only person watching it. Several of the cairns can still be entered with a crawl. They are unstaffed and entirely unprotected, so go gently and don’t climb on them.
Early-twentieth-century excavations, including R.A.S. Macalister’s work on Cairn G, recovered Neolithic burial deposits from the tombs. Just along the ridge at Doonaveeragh are around 140 circular stone foundations, thought to be the remains of a prehistoric village whose people lived alongside this burial ground.
Walking up
The usual start is a small car park at a lay-by on the N4 near Castlebaldwin. From there it’s a waymarked upland walk of roughly 5 to 6 km, about an hour and a half to two hours, with the last stretch to the cairns on foot up the track. It’s graded moderate but the ground is rough and can be boggy, so wear proper boots. The same tombs can also be reached as part of the Miners Way and Historical Trail, starting from Ballinafad and crossing the hills.
This is grazed common land: there’s a gate at the start that must be closed securely behind you, and dogs are best left at home or kept tight on a lead. On a clear day the reward at the top is the long view over Lough Arrow and out across the Sligo hills.
The Caves of Kesh
At the western end of the range, above the plain near the village of Keash, a string of around seventeen limestone caves opens in the cliff face, visible for miles. They’re a separate trip from Carrowkeel – a short, steep walk of about twenty minutes from the Keash side, not a continuation of the tomb walk – and worth doing in their own right.
Excavations in the caves turned up the bones of animals that died out in Ireland after the last Ice Age. They are also deep in Irish myth, the setting for stories of trapped warriors and supernatural women, with the largest cave long linked to Cormac mac Airt. Bring a torch if you mean to go in beyond the daylight.
Practical information
Access – This is open hillside. There’s no ticket office and no set hours, and no facilities of any kind on site, so come prepared.
Parking – A small lay-by car park on the N4 near Castlebaldwin. It’s limited and no use for coaches or large vehicles.
Gear – Sturdy walking boots, warm and waterproof layers, water, and a torch if you plan to go into the cairns or the caves. The ridge is exposed and the weather turns quickly.
Conservation – The Bricklieve Mountains and Keishcorran are a Special Area of Conservation, so keep to the paths and off the monuments.
Allow about two hours for the Carrowkeel walk and the tombs. Time it for a clear evening near the summer solstice and find Cairn G: the low sun runs straight down the passage, and you’ll very likely have the whole hillside to yourself.