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I picked this site as the first to visit on a wet Cork morning.
I actually thought access was fairly reasonable but I suppose its all about times of the year. I find early spring before the grass gets growing is always a good time to be out and about in the countryside..... very few cows about!
The circle itself is really fantastic, I've seen pictures of it before but seeing it upclose the stones do really have a real "weight" to them. The altar stone and the whole circle is very aesthetically pleasing.
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Myself and my wife and of course the dog climbed up on St. Patricks Day. I had read about a heart attack enducing climb but being honest we didnt find it too bad.
I had read a write up on mountianviews about following a field wall and coming up from the north side and this is what we did, finding the going a lot easier.
When we got up, the cairn itself is great. Its approx 10m diameter. What is really interesting is that every second kerbstone of the kerb is set radially. Since I had heard of it Ive been thinking of a of Mogh Roiths Burning Wheel or a cosmic wheel. I know this is a very rare set-up in Ireland but Im not sure how rare. I tried to unsuccessfully find another radial cairn near Mallow in Co. Cork.
There is also a kist housed in one edge of the cairn and an unusual standing stone on the opposite side of it.
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This court-tomb is right next to the sea and I believe is the most southernly court-tomb in Ireland. When I visited there were a couple of those signs about being on a farm up, so I got in and out pretty quickly.
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Ive passed through the village of Hollyford many times but never saw this sign until about 6 months ago.
It shows directions to a "Cromlech" and also to Ned of the Hills burial place. I found the cromlech which is made up of 3 stones in not any particular pattern. Its not mentioned on the OS map or Archaeology.ie so I do wonder how real it is.
I couldnt find the burial place of "Ireland's Robin Hood" Ned of the Hill but there is a least a Cillin on the OS map where he is reputed to have been buried. Access however appears to be through a farm yard so I didnt attempt it.
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This wedgetomb is only a couple of miles from the village of Portroe and is drivable up to about 50m.
This was one of the first megalithic tombs I visited but I couldnt find any of the old photos so visited it again recently. It looked a bit lonesome here with a entry but no pictures.
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This is less than 500m from the possible standing stone in the same townland.
Archaeology.ie classifies this as a "real" standing stone. The fact that it is next to a ringfort probably reinforces this. It is a small rectangular stone.
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This is marked as a possible standing stone in archaeology.ie. It is in a field next to a road which links the Dundrum and Cappaghwhite roads coming from Tipperary Town. It is more probably a scratching post.
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This monument is wrongly marked as a standing stone on my edition of the OS map 65.
It is located in Curraghchase forest park which is owned by Coillte. There is an entrance fee of €5 which is very steep in my opinion (megalithic opinion anyway).
The gardens are lovely and surprisely there were a lot of people here walking and enjoying the grounds.
The monument is located on a hill in woodland, although not a standing stone it did remind me of being in Narnia or something like that, a monument choked by the woods around it.
If anyone can shed any light on the history of it, that would be great.
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This is an amazing place to visit, the bog island where the Derrynaflan chalice was found. Ive included it here based on the folklore piece I saw on the information board in the town of Templemore on the Goban Saor;
"According to ancient Irish legend, Derrynaflan, an island of fertile land in the middle of The Bog of Allan, was the home of Gobaun Saor, the architect and builder of some of Ireland's and Britain's great ancient stone structures".
More info on Derrynaflan and the Goban Saor
http://slieveardagh.com/info/derrynaflan.html
http://www.libraryireland.com/LegendaryFictionsIrishCelts/I-9-1.php
Derrynaflan Island
Derrynaflan is an "island" of green pasture surrounded by brown bog. This was the site of an early Christian monastery, and also the home and burial place of the legendary craftsman, An Goban Saor.
On 17th February 1980 locals Michael Webb and his son, exploring with a metal detector, found a priceless treasure hoard near the pre-Romanesque church within the monastic enclosure, giving rise to a national controversy about ownership and compensation.
The Derrynaflan Chalice, a silver paten, a paten stand, a strainer and a bronze basin, all dating from the late C8th / early C9th, are regarded as among the most important surviving examples of Insular metalwork found so far. They were eventually "donated" to the Irish State and are now in display in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
Derrynaflan also has a remarkable Sheela-na-Gig, the largest of a group of stones about 100m SSW of the ruined C13th Norman church on the hill. The stone depicts a skull at the top and two large testicles at the bottom. In the centre a small face appears, followed by a small body, a vulva and 2 upturned legs. This Sheela turns out to be a sword handle and the head and feet match a fully clothed Norman lord. Two other stones are of a similar pattern.
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In the North Tipp Inventory this is down as a possible hillfort. Growing up we always knew the story about the cross that had been erected here in the 1930s and had been struck by lighting and collasped. It has since been replaced by a metal cross in the 2000s. What is interesting is that they picked this hill to put the cross, similar to other hills which have been christainised, it maybe says something about the older history of the hill.
The Inventory records it as follows "A large irregular shaped area enclosed by two earth and stone banks with intervening fosse (wth 2.5m) visible from S through W to N. The natural fall of the cliff-edge forms the defensive features at E. The inner bank (wth 2.5m; int H 0.7m; ext 2.5m) is the best perserved while the outer bank (wth 2.5m; int H 0.5m) is covered by peat and furze. The ground surface in the interior is very rugged, occupied largely by rock outcrop. There is a low circular platform (diam c.20m) containing a stone edged wall at the N end of the hillfort interior, possibly contemporary with the hillfort construction."
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This unusual arrangement of stones is in a field across the road from the main mound of Borrisnoe.
It isn't marked on the OS map or in the Arch Inventory but to me looks very clearly to be the remains of some kind of megalithic tomb.
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This rath is across the road from a national school and not far from the main mound of Rathcroghan.
Herity's book describes it as "A wide deep ditch, 7m in weight, provided material for a bank 38.50m in diameter which encloses a small area with a convex surface at the top. There is a good deal of stone in the bank which stands out from the knoll in the profile of the monument towards the east. An entrance on the east side is placed opposite a causeway across the ditch".
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