stone circles ireland

This Drumskinny complex may have been built in the second millennium B.C., but the letters MOF on some of the stones are not an indication of the existence of writing at the time, but the initials of the Ministry of Finance which supplied them in places where the excavator found evidence for the former presence of stones which have disappeared....

A fine stone circle on a hill-top with a commanding view. It is still composed of 60 stones, though originally there were many more. There is one stone standing outside the circle....

A hauntingly esoteric site on a wooded hill in Furness estate, 3 miles east-north-east of Naas and 1 mile south-east of Johnstown. Though usually described as a rath, this is more properly interpreted as a ritual enclosure in the henge tradition. It consists of a circular earthwork nearly 200 feet in diameter, on top of and inside which are a number of mature hawthorn and ash trees. The bank, up to 9 feet high and cut by gaps on the east and west, is encircled by a fosse dug to a depth of 5 f...

The name of this solitary hill 2 miles south of Raphoe recalls the Celtic springtime festival of Beltane (the ancient equivalent of May Day), traditionally associated with the lighting of hill-top fires to regenerate the sun. The wreckage of great stones on this well chosen site belongs to an earlier period than the Celtic Iron Age. As it stands, it poses problems of classification. Part stone circle, part mound, it has suffered at the hands of despoilers and must look very different fro...

Seven of the eight Ogham stones in this group were discovered in a souterrain at Coolmagort in the nineteenth century and have been set up on this site close to Dunloe Castle. The tallest stone is 8 feet high. There is also a prostrate slab taken from the grounds of nearby Kilbonane church.

Ogham stones were frequently used as lintels in the construction of underground passages. Because of their long protection from exposure, the Dunloe inscriptions are unusually well preserved. A...

While all of the Lough Gur area is a must-see for anyone interested in Ireland’s pre-historic past the Lios is possibly the cream of the lot. It is a megalithic stone circle of about 150 feet in diameter built inside a wide bank of earth, apparently dating from 2000 - 1800 BC. The atmosphere is added to by its now being overgrown and containing trees. Leading up to the ring from the east is a paved path with ordered up right stones to either side. The site appears to have been neither inhabited...

A set of four stone circles in three different townlands and three different fields near the road. These are located just off the R345 road.

Beware as three of these stones circles are located on private land.

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Hugh stones of a Neolithic passage tomb inscribed with fascinating designs of early art. Superb view....

Beautifully situated overlooking Broad Haven, this stone circle consists of an outer ring of 33 stones with a diameter of 54 feet and an inner ring of 16 stones with a diameter of about 30 feet. One part of the circle may have been adapted or other uses later....

An ambiguous group of Bronze Age ritual and funerary monuments, overlying traces of Neolithic occupation in an area of cutaway bog to the south of the Sperrin Mountains. Uncovered in stages since 1945, the structures comprise stone circles, tangential alignments and cairns, remarkable for their complexity and extent. It may safely be assumed that others await discovery beneath the all-pervading peat. As is usual in the Ulster Circles, the stones here are mostly of no great height, with the exc...