Around the Holy Mountain

20-21.07.2026

Conveniently, many of Irelands west coast Neolithic and Bronze Age sites are positioned close by the route of the Wild Atlantic Way, and in five weeks I plan to cover the section from Westport in County Mayo down to Cork.

My journey starts in Connemara just south of Westport at the unassuming hamlet of Boheh. Around the back of a derelict building down a quiet lane is an outcrop of Limestone Known locally as St Patrick’s Chair. The rock lies on a Pilgrim’s route which ends at the summit of Coagh Patrick some five miles off to the west. The rock would have been an ideal spot to sit and observe the summer and winter solstice sunsets, where the sun appears to roll down the side of the conical mountain. The stone itself is important for another reason. On the various surfaces of it’s upper half are many cup and ring marks as well as inscribed key holes and a cross from a later period. There are supposed to be up to two hundred and fifty examples of early Bronze Age Rock Art here, but many are very faint and take some finding. The finest of them were on the south East corner away from the direction of the westerly winds.