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Northern Ireland
The Giant's RingPassage Grave
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Wow, what a place! The 'ring' is huge, a well preserved high bank with steep sides apparently used as a sports and recreation centre by the locals! Dozens of people walking, cycling, kiting, playing football and jogging, with a small army of children using the megalithic tomb in the centre as a climbing frame-cum-fortress. Great. At least it does have easy access and a carpark though I would have traded that for a less crowds and more quiet... The tomb itself is very nice, it does have traces of grafitti and the stones are rubbed smooth from the feet of thousands of kids but at least its still standing and isn't enclosed by an ugly fence. I've seen lots of great photos of this tomb (one won a stage of photographer of the year in a magazine) and it seemed the kids would prevent me from getting a few moments alone to study it and the surrounding henge (with nearby trees). Slowly circling a group of young children playing under the watchful eye of their parents isnt really a great idea so I took the opportunity to walk the entire circumference of the henge in the freezing wind, dodging dogs and joggers. The park has a sign warning that the gates are closed at 4 o'clock in the evening. It was a quater to. Marvellous. Five to four and the crowds vanish into thin air, a couple and their kids arrive to fly their kite so figuring they must be wise to the gate times I made my way to the tomb in the centre as quick as possible unpacking the camera gear as I go. After the experiences using wireless fill flash at Gaulstown Dolmen, I pretty much knew what I wanted in my head so in the ten minutes I had the place almost to myself I got shots of every angle with different sidelighting arrangements, trees in the distance lined up nicely though the sunset was a bit of a damp squib. I also realised why I should always carry the tripod with me, the angle of the flash from the ground is just too low and the little stand thing Nikon bundle doesn't work so great in the grass. In future I'll bring at least one if not two tripods to hold either the flash or the camera, this should hopefully avoid the bright patch of grass along the line of flash. Much better. A great place to visit, though make it early to avoid the multitudes! Photos here: http://cianmcliam.smugmug.com/gallery/359909/1/14303199 |
Posted by CianMcLiam17th January 2005ce |
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Visited 22nd March 2004: I found it tricky to navigate in Northern Ireland, so our route out of Belfast to the Giant's Ring was a bit circuitous. The site is signposted from some directions, but not from others, so the GPS turned out to be very useful. Parking is easy, and access to the henge is reasonably good. This is prime dog walking territory for the locals. Definitely an amenity as much as a piece of heritage. The weather was rubbish, but we dutifully plodded around the top of the henge bank looking in at the tomb, and out at the surrounding fields (spotting Ballynahatty Stone). Half way round the henge we lost our resolve (the rain was getting very bad) and descended into the relative shelter of the interior. The tomb itself was my first glimpse of an Irish megalithic tomb. It's a dollop of a tomb, like an over-weight caterpillar, or a Siamese twin dolmen. Compact and chunky. I contemplated squeezing inside, but thought better of it. We walked the remaining half of the henge bank, then scuttled back to the car. Nice henge! Nice tomb! Horrible weather! This post appears as part of the weblog entry A Bit of Northern Ireland
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Posted by Kammer24th June 2004ce Edited 17th July 2004ce |
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Set into the stone wall that surrounds the Giant's Ring is an engraved stone plaque that reads:THIS WALL FOR THE PROTECTION OFThe bits in square brackets are illegible, so I've guessed the probable wording. |
Posted by Kammer 25th June 2004ce Edited 25th June 2004ce |
The Giant's Ring consists of a henge monument, within which are the remains of a tomb. Here's what the Northern Ireland Sites and Monuments Database has to say about it:A henge monunent, 180m in diam., enclosed by a bank & inner ditch, with a megalithic tomb E of its centre. Excavation in 1954 showed that the bank is made of gravel, boulders & clay, taken from a shallow scoop in the interior. It is unknown which of the several breaks in the bank are original. The burial chamber is a polygonal space surrounded by 5 large stones, covered by a huge capstone & is probably the remains of a passage tomb. It is part of a ritual complex in this area, including cists, barrows & a huge timber enclosure with structures & burials to NW. |
Posted by Kammer 15th March 2004ce Edited 17th June 2004ce |
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MultimapThe location of the Giant's Ring on Multimap. |
Posted by Kammer 29th June 2004ce |
Lisburn Historical SocietyAn online version of their publication looking at the history of the Giant's Ring. If you follow the link to the cover of this volume you'll see an aerial photograph of the enclosure. |
Posted by Shereen9th May 2002ce |
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