Cist at Agower, Lower Calary

O S map of the townland of Lower Calary where Agower cist was found

From O S maps - https://webapps.geohive.ie/mapviewer/index.html

Image of Sugar Loaf from Greystones - Cist was found on the southern slopes of the Sugar Loaf

From the National Library of Ireland online Collection

A cist is an ancient coffin or burial chamber made from stone or a hollowed tree. The cist at Agower was found in the townland of Calary Lower near Downshill and is a polygonal cist. The cist was discovered in 1938 by a ploughman named Jack Carey who worked for a local farmer named Mr. Norman Fox. The cist was located on the southern slope of the Great Sugar Loaf, near the source of the Vartry River. The cist contained an encrusted urn and cremated bones of a child. The cist is thought to be from the latter phase of the Early Bronze age, about 3,700 years ago.

The cist was constructed by placing seven slabs on end in a pit to form a rough circle of approximately 60 cm in diameter. The floor had two slabs. The urn was broken and, in many pieces, though most of the fragments were recovered. The urn measures 36 cm diameter and 38 cm in height and is held in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland.

Bibliography

Price, Liam The Price Notebooks, Volume 1 and Volume 2, (editors Christiaan Corlett and Mairead Weaver), An Roinn Comhshaoil agus Rialtais ítiúil / Department of the Environment and Local Government, 2002

Neary, Patrick, Bronze Age find still poses many questions, Bray People – Thursday 07 September 1995, page 21