tiompan wrote:
Sorry Ken ,I should have read the wee note about the axial stone , Burl dosen't describe it as such though .
He doesn't? Thought he did, will recheck where I found that, in any case it's a pretty valid assumption for this type of circle that the tallest stones mark the portal and the axial is usually smallest (or at least the other stones are likely graded down to it). An interesting thing I also noticed was the flanker stones cast shadows directly towards the portal stones and may even touch them at widwinter sunset. I have a pic I will upload later, though could just be coincidence.
Even more like like Drombeg in that they are the only solstice aligned ASC 's examples afaik .Did you get a bearing between the pillars and stone ?
Sorry, I just re-read what I wrote, I meant the construction type with tall portals and low axial were standard of the type, not the winter solstice alignment! No bearing I'm afraid, I wasn't even going in that direction except for the roads being closed around Loughcrew I was going there instead so had no compass or gps. The conditions were so bad I wasn't going to hang around anyway, as soon as the pics were taken I scarpered down the hill again before it started to get dark! Will revisit when things improve up there.
Interestingly enough, I was speaking to someone in UCC about it yesterday and they mentioned that Frank Prendergast had mentioned some stone circles in Wicklow that he had looked at during a talk about research for his work at archaeo-astronomy work at Lismullin, will see if he has looked into this as well (though they said he may have only mentioned Castleruddery).