Knocknarea

Trail Description

Fantastic views. Ancient burial place of Queen Maeve. Knocknarea is an anglicization of an Irish name. The Placenames Database of Ireland gives the Irish name as Cnoc na Riabh (meaning "hill of the stripes"). However, P.W. Joyce preferred the interpretation Cnoc na Riaghadh ("hill of the executions") and Cnoc na Riogha ("hill of the kings") has also been suggested. On the summit of Knocknarea is a large cairn about 55 metres (180 ft) wide and 10 metres (33 ft) high, making it the largest such cairn in Ireland outside the Brú na Bóinne. It is known in Irish as Meascán Méabha and in English as Meabh's Cairn, Meabh's Tomb or Meabh's Grave (sometimes the name Meabh is anglicized as Maeve). Meabh is a figure in Irish mythology. Archaeologist Stefan Bergh, in his book Landscape of the Monuments (Stockholm 1995), suggests that a large depression to the back of the mound on the western side was the quarry from which the limestone for the monument was taken.