sliabh na cailligh

The stone cairns of Loughcrew, scattered over the neighbouring hills of Carnbane East, Carnbane West and Patrickstown, lie in the very north-west of the country, 5 km south of Oldcastle and just off the L3. As with the more famous passage tombs of Bru na Boinne, major cairns dominate the hill summits with smaller tombs clustered around. Dating to the 3rd millennium B.C., the site is known in Irish as Sliabh na Caillighe - 'the Hill of the Witch', legend declaring that the mounds were created by an over-flying sorceress dropping pebbles on the landscape. The view from atop the hills is one of subtle and varied contrasts, the rolling fertile lands of Meath stretching to the south and east, the lakelands and expansive flat plains of Cavan and the Midlands seemingly limitless as they spread towards the Shannon.