Burl has a good section on Ballynoe in his book which I was reading over New Years before my trip up there. I'm not really equipped to critique what he has to say so I'll just summarise:
Burl believes the circle came first, then two cairns/passage tombs were built inside possibly after the abandonment of the circle or friction between the tomb builders and circle builders (he cites Brats hill, Arbor Low and Callanish as examples). Then some time later the two cairns were destroyed to create the long mound. Because of the similarity between the circle and other circles in Britain which have no features inside the most likely scenario is the circle came first, such as at Bryn Celli Ddu where the circle was destroyed to create a passage tomb.
"The present author believes that there were four distinct stages, an initial stone circle followed by atwo prehistoric phases of intereference and alteration culminating in historical robbery"
 Reply | with quote | Posted by CianMcLiam
9th January 2006ce
20:43 |
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Head To Head 
Ballynoe...a pre-historical conundrum? (Cursuswalker)