This statue of Countess Markievicz is located in Rathcormack, Co. Sligo and was unveiled in 2003.
Countess Markievicz was born Constance Gore-Booth in 1868. She was the daughter of local land owner Sir Henry Gore-Booth and spent her childhood living in Lissadell House Co. Sligo. She went to study art, first to London and then to Paris. While studying in Paris she met her future husband Count Casimir Markievicz, they had one daughter together.
She and her husband later moved to Dublin and during this time Markievicz became involved in nationalist politics. In 1909, along with Bulmer Hobson she founded the nationalist Boy Scout organisation, Na Fianna Éireann. In 1913 during the Dublin lock out she was involved with the running of a soup kitchen operating out of Liberty Hall in Dublin and around the same time joined the Irish Citizen Army.
She took part in the 1916 rising and was part of the Irish Citizen Army garrison that briefly occupied defensive positions at St Stephens green before taking up position in the Royal College of Surgeons. For her part in the rising she was sentenced to death but this was later commuted to life in prison. However she was released from prison as part of the general amnesty in 1917.
In 1918 she stood in the general election and became the first woman to be elected to British Parliament. She did not take her seat at Westminster instead becoming a member of the First Dáil Éireann.
She opposed the Anglo Irish Treaty and after being elected as a Sein Fein TD in the 1923 election refused to take her seat in the Dáil as was the party’s policy of abstentionism. She was a founder member of Fianna Fáil party and was elected as a Fianna Fáil T.D. in the 1927 general election.
Countess Markievicz died on the 15th of July 1927 at the age of 59. She is buried in Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin.
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Tagged Statue
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1. Carrowkeel
Carrowkeel is one of the four major passage tomb cemeteries in Ireland. It consists of 14 passage tombs situated on the Bricklieve mountains. The cairns are in various states of preservation. One of the cairns, Cairn G has a roofbox, one of only two known roofboxes in Ireland. The roofbox is similar in style to the famous roofbox at Newgrange. This allows the light of the setting sun to enter the cairn around the Summer solstice.
2. Drumcliff Churchyard
Drumcliff church and graveyard is situated on a former monastic site believe to be founded by St. Columcille. The site contains a highly decorated Celtic High Cross and the stump of another undecorated high cross. The remains of County Sligo’s only round tower stand across the road from the graveyard. The graveyard is also the known for being the burial place for poet, William Butler Yeats.
3. Dooney Rock
The top of Dooney Rock offers fantastic views over Lough Gill and towards Benbulben and Knocknarea. A looped walking trail through though the woods lead to the top of the rock. There is also a small picnic area next to the car park.
4. Maeve’s Cairn
The most famous of Sligo’s megalithic cairns. Maeve’s Cairn or Miosgán Meadhbha is an enormous flat topped cairn that sits at the summit of Knocknarea. A walking track leads from the car park to the top of the mountain. Once a year, athletes competing in the popular Warriors Run race up to the top of the mountain, around the cairn and back into Strandhill in what is a gruelling race.
5. Clogher Stone Fort
Possibly the best example of a Stone Fort in County Sligo. Clogher Stone Fort is located near Monasteraden in South Sligo and not far from Lough Gara. The fort contains well preserved walls and typical souterrains. Souterrains are underground passages, common in many ring forts and cashels which were probably used for storage.
One of the last things most people expect to see during the middle of the day would be a bat given their nocturnal nature. So on my last visit to Carrowkeel I was surprised to find a lone bat hanging upside down inside one of the passage tombs.
- Bat hanging from capstone of Cairn B, Carrowkeel, Co. Sligo
After negotiating my way up a steep incline I reached Cairn B, positioned in its commanding location overlooking the entrance to the Carrowkeel passage tomb cemetery. Although bright outside once you enter the cairn you need to let your eyes accustom to the darkness on the inside. After a minute or two, when my eyes had adapted to the dim light, I noticed something small hanging from the capstone of the Cairn. At first I thought it must have been some form of plant but when I took a closer look I realised that it was a bat resting peacefully. It didn’t seem bothered by me and I tried not to disturb it.
- Close up of a bat hanging from the capstone of Cairn B, Carrowkeel, Co. Sligo
I can see how the bat chose Cairn B as its resting place given that it is dry and shielded from the elements. Also, as the location of the Cairn B makes it somewhat difficult to reach compared to some of the other cairns at Carrowkeel, it is rarely disturbed.
While heading up the road that leads into Carrowkeel the first cairn in the passage tomb cemetery a visitor is likely to see is Cairn B. Situated at the top of a high steep sided ridge, it could be considered one of the more difficult cairns in the Carrowkeel cemetery to gain access to.
Because of its location this passage tomb remains in a relatively good state of preservation. The entrance and the chamber is built into the top half of the cairn well above ground level. A narrow entrance and short passage lead into the cairns chamber. The chamber at first appears to be undifferentiated but there is a slight recess on the eastern side.
The cairn was excavated in 1911 by R.A.S. Macalister. Cremated human remains and shreds of pottery were found within the chamber.
Tomb 51 which is also known as Listoghil is the largest tomb in the Carrowmore cemetery. It is located in the approximate center of the cemetery which also happens to be the highest point in Carrowmore.
The chamber is situated inside the centre of a large cairn which makes Listoghil unique as it is the only tomb in Carrowmore to have a cairn.
Tomb 51 was excavated in the 1990′s and has since been reconstructed. The cairn was rebuilt and an uncovered passage leading into the central chamber was constructed. Various radiocarbon dates have been obtained from Tomb 51 by Swedish archeologist’s during excavation and it is thought that the central chamber was built over 5,500 years ago although there may have been earlier activity on the same site prior to this.
In the early 1990’s megalithic art was discovered to be engraved on the front side of the roof slab of the central chamber, though this can be hard to see it is a rare example of megalithic rock art in County Sligo.
This stone fort is located just outside the village of Ballintogher. A narrow lane leads to the fort which is located on a small hilltop. The fort is oval in shape and its walls still stand in a good state of preservation.
A cashel refers to a round or oval shaped enclosure sometimes called a “fort”. Cashels were normally made from stone as opposed to the more common Irish ring forts which were similarly shaped but consisted of earthen banks in place of stone walls. The name Cashelore is derived from the Irish, Caiseal Óir which translates into fort of gold.
This megalithic monument located at Creevykeel, just North of the village of Cliffoney is said to be one of the best examples of a court tomb in Ireland. It’s certainly one of the easiest to gain access to, situated just a few meters off the main Sligo to Bundoran road.
The court tomb was excavated in the 1930′s and has since been partially reconstructed. It consists of a large court, which leads to the entrance of the gallery. The gallery consists of two chambers. These were originally covered by a corbelled roof. A long cairn surounds the end of the tomb. Interestingly, the site does not seem to have been used very frequently for burials as only a four burial pits containing cremated remains were found, two in each chamber. It’s possible the site was also used for some other unkown ceremonial purposes.
The court may have originally been semi circular in shape and then at some later stage made into a full enclosed oval shaped court as is seen today. The rear of the tomb contains another three chambers that were built into the cairn. No evidence of burials was found in these chambers. Within the court is a small round structure added in medieval times which was believed to be used for iron smelting.
In local foklore the tomb was sometimes known as a “giants grave” which was a name given by people to many megalitic tombs around Ireland and still used as a term to refer to some of those tombs today.
I had a discussion recently with a couple of people about how quartz could be seen as a link to the past. One person observed that today quartz is commonly used to cover graves of the deceased and that it had also been used in ancient times on sacred sites.
Around 5,000 years ago the mineral was being used by Stone Age builders of the ancient passage tombs around Ireland to decorate the outside of many of their cairns. The most famous example of quartz being used in this way is at Newgrange in Co. Meath where the white quartz decorates the facade on the front of the monument. Nearby, the larger Knowth has quartz scattered on the ground around the entrances to both its passages.
In Sligo, the Carrowkeel passage tombs, some of which were once adorned with quartz may have given the Bricklieve Mountains on which they are situated its name. The Bricklieves Irish name is “An Bricshliabh” which in English translates into the “speckled mountain”. It’s possible that when the tombs still had their decoration of quartz it looked to people viewing them from a distance that they glistened or speckled in the sunlight. Indeed the Irish word for quartz is “grian cloch” which translates into “stone of the sun”.
We don’t fully understand the reason the ancient builders chose to use quartz on their cairns and may never know but it does give a linkage to the past in that the mineral was associated then as it is now with resting places of the dead.
Lough Arrow viewed from Doonaveeragh.
Posted in Geological
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Tagged lough
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