Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetary

County Sligo is home to the largest and oldest collection of stone circles and dolmens known from Neolithic Ireland. These are found here at Carrowmore. Located around 5 kilometres from Sligo town and overlooked by Queen Maeve’s tomb on Knocknarea hill,  this fascinating Bronze Age graveyard contains up to 60 graves, although only 30 of them are visible. Despite many of the graves being damaged or destroyed throughout the centuries due to quarrying and field clearance, they remain the largest collection of megaliths in Ireland, mainly consisting of a mixture of dolmens and passage cairns that date from between 3000 and 2500 BC . The oldest tomb predates Newgrange by 700 years and is older than the pyramids of Egypt!

More recently, new information collected from DNA has shown that the monuments here at Carrowmore were used by people from France, who travelled here over 6000 years ago and who, allegedly, brought the first cattle to Ireland as well as re-introducing the red deer.

A small farmhouse located on the lands surrounding the site has been redeveloped for use as a visitor centre, which houses an exhibition relating to the site.

From March to October there are hour long guided tours available from  the visitors centre or you can choose to take a self-guided tour and explore at your own pace. Multi-lingual self-guided tours are also available. The centre is open daily from 10am until 5pm during the summer months.