Corn Hill, also called Cairn Hill or Carn Clonhugh ( ga, Carn Clainne Aodha or '), is a hill in

County Longford County Longford ( gle, Contae an Longfoirt) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Longford. Longford County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was ...

, Republic of Ireland. It lies north of

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It has a population of 10,008 according to the 2016 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meet ...

, between

Drumlish Drumlish () is a village in County Longford, Ireland on the R198 regional road north of Longford Town. History Evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of ringfort sites in Drumlish and its surrounding townlands. The rema ...

and

Ballinalee Ballinalee (), sometimes known as Saint Johnstown, is a village in north County Longford, Ireland. It is situated on the River Camlin, and falls within the civil parish of Clonbroney. As of the 2016 census, the village had a population of 347 ...

, in the parish of

Killoe Killoe () is a rural community and parish in County Longford, Ireland, located approximately 6 miles north of Longford Town. It is home to Cairn Hill (locally called Corn Hill) or Carn Clonhugh - the highest peak in County Longford. It is borde ...

. At 278 metres above sea level, it is the highest hill in the county and has a television mast ( Cairn Hill transmission site) on the top which rises 123 metres above the peak of the hill.

Etymology

The name ''Carn Clonhugh'' is an

anglicization Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

of the Irish ''Carn Clainne Aodha'', meaning " cairn of Clann Aodha" (anglicised "Clanhugh"). Clanhugh was a historic territory in the northwest of County Longford. The earliest cartographic reference to the hill is found in the 1837–1842 Ordnance Survey Ireland 6 Inch map, which can be seen on the

Ordnance Survey Ireland Ordnance Survey Ireland (OSI; ga, Suirbhéireacht Ordanáis Éireann) is the national mapping agency of Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean ...

website. In cartography, the hill was referred to as Carn Clonhugh, but by the time of the 2nd edition 1887–1913

25 Inch map, that was replaced with Corn (a corruption of Cairn) Hill. Today, it is known locally as Corn Hill.

Sliabh Carbry

Historic literature names this hill Sliabh Carbry after the pre-Norman kingdom of

Cairpre Gabra Between the 5th and 12th centuries, an Irish sept claiming descent from Coirpre mac Néill ruled a barony of north Tethbae,) originally referred to an area north of the River Inny approximating to present day County Longford. County Longford was ...

. That a more ancient name of Sliabh Uillinn applied is supported by the

Irish Annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over t ...

. An old manuscript calls Sliabh Carbry the ''mountains of Uillim red-edged, the son of Fionn''.

Geology

Cairn Hill is located in area of north Longford dominated by Middle to Upper

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. ...

slate, sandstone, conglomerate, and greywacke according to the

Geological Survey of Ireland Geological Survey Ireland or Geological Survey of IrelandS.I. No. 300/2002 - Communications, Energy and Geological Survey of Ireland (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2002 ( ga, Suirbhéireacht Gheolaíochta ...

public data viewer.

Panorama

The hill has extensive views of the landscape below. The forested land obstructs most of the view from Cairn A, but Cairn B has an extensive panorama from WSW to SSE. Sliabh Ban can clearly be seen from Cairn B along with the peat power-station of

Lanesborough–Ballyleague Lanesborough–Ballyleague (), more commonly known simply as Lanesborough, is a town in the midlands of Ireland. Lanesborough is on the County Longford (east) side and Ballyleague on the County Roscommon (west) side of the River Shannon. They are ...

and Ardagh Hill.

Archaeology

Passage graves A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or with stone, and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age, and are found largely in Wester ...

usually cluster in two or more cairns, consisting of mainly a passage leading to a central chamber, corbelled roofed chamber sometimes in the form of a cruciform shape. The perimeter of the cairn would be edged by kerbstones, like those of

Newgrange Newgrange ( ga, Sí an Bhrú) is a prehistoric monument in County Meath in Ireland, located on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, west of Drogheda. It is an exceptionally grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic Period, around 3200 ...

, Co. Meath and

Carrowmore Carrowmore ( ga, An Cheathrú Mhór, 'the great quarter') is a large group of megalithic monuments on the Coolera Peninsula to the west of Sligo, Ireland. They were built in the 4th millennium BC, during the Neolithic (New Stone Age). There ar ...

, Co. Sligo. Passage tombs are usually found in prominent locations, such as hill-tops. Generally speaking, the less complex the passage tomb is the older it is considered to be. The possible passage tombs atop Cairn hill are considered to be among the oldest in Ireland along with Carrowmore, Co. Sligo. The hill is particularly important for the two possible passage grave structures atop it. The largest example is Cairn A (or Carn Caille), marking the highest physical point of the hill with a diameter of 18 m and height of 3 m. Reference to that cairn does not appear until 1960, when

installed a trigonometrical station, partially damaging the cairn. An excavation took place before installation, with cremated bone recovered from a central rectangular chamber. Thanks to the advent of Global Positioning System technology, the trigonometrical station is now redundant. The second cairn, Cairn B, is about 50 m to the north of Cairn A, with a 9 m diameter and difficult to identify due to the extensive coverage of peat and heather.

Folklore

Cairn A (or Carn Caille) has two legends associated with it. The first refers to the location of the burial place of Queen

Maeve Maeve, Maev or Maiv is a female given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish name ''Méabh'', which was spelt in early modern Irish (), or in Middle Irish, and in Old Irish (). It may derive from a word meaning "she who intoxicates", ...

's nephew and murderer,

Furbaide Ferbend Furbaide Ferbend is a character from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. Legend has it that Furbaide Ferbend was buried in a passage grave atop Carn Clonhugh, more commonly known as Corn Hill or Cairn Hill, north Longford, after the two passage g ...

on the summit of Sliabh Uillen (Cairn Hill). One of the cairn on Sliabh Carbry (in

) was indeed anciently called "". The second legend refers to Cairn A (or Carn Caille)and its creation by the

Cailleach In Gaels, Gaelic (Irish mythology, Irish, Scottish mythology, Scottish and Culture of the Isle of Man#Myth, legend and folklore, Manx) myth, the Cailleach (, ) is a divine hag and ancestor, associated with the Creator deity, creation of the lands ...

a Bheara or ancient Hag/Witch who dropped stones out of her apron as she flew over the hill. This legend is also associated with many

Passage grave A passage grave or passage tomb consists of one or more burial chambers covered in earth or with stone, and having a narrow access passage made of large stones. These structures usually date from the Neolithic Age, and are found largely in Wester ...

sites throughout the island of Ireland, such as

, Co. Sligo and Carrowkeel, Co. Sligo.

Pictures

Image:Cairn Hill2.JPG Image:Cairn Hill3.JPG Image:Cairn Hill4.JPG Image:Cairn Hill5.JPG Image:Cairn Hill.JPG Image:Carn Caille.JPG Image:Cairn B.png

References

Primary

Secondary

* * *

External links

Map of Ireland Viewer

Walking Ireland's County Tops
{{Mountains and hills of Leinster Mountains and hills of County Longford Highest points of Irish counties Marilyns of Ireland