Creevykeel Court Tomb, County Sligo

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Creevykeel is one of Ireland’s finest examples of a ‘court tomb’, a type of megalithic funerary monument that dates to the Neolithic period, the tomb is approximately 5,500 years old. Court tombs are thought to be the earliest type of megalithic tomb to have been built in Ireland.

As their name implies, they usually feature a large courtyard area that was in front of a covered gallery that contained human remains, often in two or more chambers. The galleries or chambers were originally covered with a large cairn of small stones or earth.

Creevykeel was excavated in 1935 by the Havard Archaeological Expedition. They discovered four groups of cremated human remains, two in each of the chambers at the front of the tomb, but no human remains were discovered in the chambers at the back of the tomb. They also found fragments of pottery, polished stone axeheads, stone tools like a large flint knife, scrapers and flint arrowheads and four quartz crystals.

Unfortunately due the stone walls that enclose the site, it is difficult for the visitor today to get a true sense of how the monument was positioned to sit within the landscape.

Creevykeel was reused for different purposes throughout history. Artefacts and evidence of early medieval activity were discovered, and you can still see the outline of a cereal-drying kiln that was placed in the side of the stone cairn.

Creevykeel is quite easy to find. Simply travel north around 23km from Sligo on the N15 towards Lifford. You’ll see the site signposted with a small carpark on the right-hand shoulder of the N15, just approximately 1.5km north of the village of Cliffony. You'll find it at co-ordinates: 54.438806, -8.433885.

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