Sligo City

Abbeyquarter North Passage Tomb

Wakeman made this drawing on September 23, 1882, which illustrates a stone circle near Cleveragh, the estate of William Gregory Wood-Martin, the famous Sligo antiquarian, for whom Wakeman did many illustrations.

Stone Circle near Cleveragh
Copyright Sligo County Library

This is in the townland of Abbeyquarter North, and is today found within a roundabout in the Garavogue Villas housing estate, east of Sligo City's fire station. The houses were built in the 1940s and the religious statues were erected by local residents to celebrate the Marion Year in 1954. It is in fact a simple passage tomb that is almost 6000 years old. It is very similar in size and construction to Carrowmore tomb number 27 which was dated to around 3650-3960 BC.

Modern Image of Stone Circle at Abbeyquarter

Modern Image of Stone Circle at Abbeyquarter

Copyright Sligo County Library

Modern Image of Stone Circle at Abbeyquarter
Copyright Sligo County Library

Modern Image of Stone Circle at Abbeyquarter

Modern Image of Stone Circle at Abbeyquarter

Copyright Sligo County Library

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The site consists of 44 boulders with a diameter of 23 metres. Some of which are displaced from their original position. It may have had an inner circle and there were two stones in the centre in 1888, with only one being there today. Wood-Martin excavated it in 1888 and drew a plan of it, with the help of Wakeman. He found cremated bone and some unburnt bone, some human and animal teeth. The remains might be evidence of both primary and secondary burial. Carrowmore Number 27 had both Neolithic remains and Iron remains found in it, some of which are similar to those found by Wood-Martin, particularly the dog teeth. Its location is directly overlooking the narrowest point of the GaravogueRiver, where the river goes from being 200m wide to 42.5m wide. Up until recently this was called Buckley's Ford. Abbeyquarter's role in the landscape may have functioned as a symbolic marker and might have acted as an aid to direct people toward the ritual centre of the peninsula, where Carrowmore is located.