Latest Fieldnotes

14/07/2014 – This cairn is just a short walk east from the broch in the same wood. It is a fair-size at over 30m long. Not much to actually see of the stones as it is completely overgrown. Still the vibe is great in the clearing and we had a nice time strolling around the cairn.

14/07/2014 – It’s sites like this that make me wonder about how few people go to these places. The wood has a good car park and waymarked walks. The broch is marked and it has a nice notice board near it. But the gate leading to the broch was near impossible to open and so few people must visit that the path was overgrown with trees. A little sad as it’s a nice site with a lovely view north over Loch Fleet. Very overgrown but worth a look.

A previously unrecorded marked rock , pics don’t do justice to the markings . Must return in good winter light to get a clearer image .

Two previously unrecorded cup and single rings sites from the field immediately to the north of Galtway Hill .

A new find from a couple of weeks ago . It was only when I got home that I realised that it hadn’t been recorded (Surprising as it is not that far from the farm and relatively obvious ), hence the duff pics .Didn’t spend too much time getting good pics or recording .
If anyone is in the area I can give give directions & 10 figure grid ref and hopefully they can get some pics to give the markings justice .

11/07/2014 – Getting to this cairn looked pretty easy on the map via the old railway line from either Embo or Dornoch. Once there though, getting from the path to the cairn was hard work with barded wire fences to cross. Maybe better access from the west. Reading canmore this cairn, situated next to a stream, sounded pretty good but it’s so overgrown it was hard to see anything through the gorse and broom. Nice walk though.

Back To The Old House

Back over on Arran and back in the old cottage at Merkland.

Left the OH and the Young Digger knocking balls around Bilsland’s Crazy Golf on the front at Brodick. I coaxed Old Piney into fourth gear and trundled out past Cladach and the stinky old harbour below Brodick Castle. Two seals were basking out on the rocks at Merkland Point. Piney reversed into the the layby/ boat ramp almost by herself and even thoughtfully stalled as soon as she was tucked in position.

I’d had a fair old struggle locating this cist until a few years back and I’ve still never seen any sign of anyone else having visited the place. It is incredibly close to the road and I decided to time myself getting to the cist from closing the car door.

The old Merkland cart track which also serves as a part-time burn was even more overgrown than last year (and the year before). Long trailing Brambles and sprouting Hogweed conspired with ankle deep slimy mud and curtains of Willow to obstruct my progress. But only 2 minutes and 45 seconds after slamming the car door shut and setting out, I was gazing down at the mossy old cist of Merkland Wood. I heard two cyclists on the road chatting as they pedalled by (this site is THAT close to the road).

The moss looked deeper than before, with little seedlings of the Willow and Rhododendron sprouting on the thick, moist green carpet on the capstone. The erosion below the cist (just above the burn) has slightly worsened but the earth and bank immediately around the cist seem fairly well consolidated.

The deep undergrowth does mean a very high midge count even during the hottest and sunniest of days. After a few minutes taking in the quiet of this site I’d fired off enough photos and lost enough blood to the skeeters – I fled and staggered back down through the mud and thorns.

Old Piney grumbled into fourth gear and trundled the couple of miles back into Brodick. Young Digger and his mum were only on the 10th hole. I’d been away for a bit less than 30 minutes – but they weren’t your regular minutes I don’t think.

Visited 11.7.14

This is a real ‘pig of a place’ to visit – an O/S map is definitely required.

Upon reaching the former mining village of Ferndale (on the A4233), I eventually found the correct minor road heading north, then east out across Cefn Gwyngul. I shortly arrived at a small parking place which is (optimistically) marked as a ‘viewing point’ on the O/S map. I decided to leave the car here and continue on foot along the road until I reached the track on the left which leads to the aerial transmitter. It is in fact possible to park at the gated entrance to this track.

Although the sign on the gate states vehicular traffic is prohibited, there was no mention of walkers/public, so in I went. My O/S map shows this as a track running through forestry so I was looking forward to a pleasant walk through the trees. Unfortunately, since the map was printed the trees have been ‘harvested’ and the area is now one of destruction. Although to be fair the whole area has been re-planted with conifer saplings, so in time it will recover.

The track is well made and fairly flat, it takes about 20 minutes to reach the end of the track where a second gate blocks the way. This information sign on this gate is a little more interesting. It warns that when the red flag is flying clay shooting is in progress and you must keep to the path. I of course wanted to go off-path and there were not one but two red flags flying! However, judging by the state of the flags it looked to me that they were left flying at all times. Also, there was no one about so I decided to take a chance and go through the gate and head off-path and up hill.

At this point I had the choice of heading up hill either to the left or right of the barbed wire fence. I chose the left side (mistake) and it was a long, difficult walk through the spiky grass. Luckily the weather had been fine recently and although the ground was spongy it was pretty dry. In wet weather it would have been a complete bog. As I rose higher it became increasingly difficult to make my way through the grass / gorse. Towards the summit I came to another barbed wire fence which I had to carefully climb over. At this point I could see the trig and I headed directly for it as the O/S map shows it has been built directly on top of the cairn.

The weather was hot and the sky blue. I was hot/bothered/sweaty by the time I arrived at my destination and was grateful to sit down with my back resting against the trig. I must have smelt a bit at this stage judging by the number of flies taking an interest in me!

As for the cairn itself, there is very little to say. A very low stony mound mostly covered in spiky grass. It is one of those places that you would walk right past if you didn’t know it was here. COFLEIN state: ‘A plough damaged cairn, 11.3m in diameter and 0.6m high, structural features have been suggested’. This short description pretty much sums the site up. The only other thing to add is the view.
To the south, the valley scarred by both old industry (mining) and new industry (wind turbines) The view to the north however is far more pleasant. There are good views out across the valleys and the distant Brecon Beacons beyond.

After eating my well earned banana it was time to head back to the car. As it was such a difficult walk up the hill I decided to walk down the hill on the other side of the fence. This proved much easier as there was a ‘path’ most of the way and I didn’t have to climb back over the barbed wire fence. Again, in wet weather, this would have been a complete nightmare as it would have been no more than a bog.

I quickly reached the proper track and headed back to the car. I then made my biggest mistake. Instead of continuing the way I came I decided to come off track and head directly through the newly planted trees to the car, which I could see far below me. At first all was fine but as I approached the car the dreaded gorse was much more in evidence and I then walked into a bog. Knee height in black, stinking water! It was too late now so I squelched my way through and, after climbing over another barbed wire fence, reached the safety of the road. It was a nightmare. I had to drive home in completely soaked, stinking boots. Just as well this was the ‘last hurrah’ for the boots as I was planning on buying a new pair before my Scottish adventures next week anyway. When I arrived home I stopped the car, took them off, and chucked them in the bin!

Why do we do what we do? Was it worth it? 50 mile round trip, 2 barbed wire fences, up to my knees in bog water and all to see – well, very little at all as it turned out. Still, I am sure I will feel a lot more upbeat when I am heading to Scotland on Saturday!

Carn-Y-Pigwn is not one to recommend, unless you are an obsessive and/or a masochist or TSC!.

Despite the fact that the wind farm windmills have gone (maybe only temporarily) the field is still surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

I visited here a couple of weeks ago and there is now a signpost marked ‘St Breock Downs Monolith’ (no idea why they don’t use its Celtic name), but as Men Gurta is only about 15 metres from the track of the Saint’s Way it’s probably easier just to follow those signs once you’re on St Breock Downs.

The stone itself is still kept free of gorse, and there is a new Cornish Heritage Trust information panel near the stone.

The previously mentioned wind farm windmills aren’t there at the moment, but there are still some huts and portacabins which make it look like they will be erecting some new ones in the not too distant future.

Visited 11th May 2014

This was near the top of my list of must visit places on Shetland, and with the sun making an appearance through the clouds, bringing some warmth to the day, and our time left on Shetland fast diminishing, we headed for Shetland’s ‘wild west’ and the enigmatic Stanydale.

On what felt like a road to nowhere a sign and parking spot soon makes itself visible, and we squeeze the car into the layby. It feels remote here, and is one of the few places on Shetland where we’re not able to see the sea.

Setting off across the slightly squelchy moorland it’s not long before we arrive at the Neolithic house not far from the temple. Like Carl before us we sit in the remains of this ancient dwelling, and just take in the atmosphere. Cracking open the Thermos we have a cup of tea, drinking in the peace and quiet as much as the PG Tips, and wondering what the venerable farmer who constructed this place would have thought about a pair of visitors supping tea in his house some four millennia later?

As we press on for the temple, shadows from the clouds and ever changing light play across the heath and with only the lonely cries of birds as a soundtrack we feel as if we’ve stepped into another world. Soon the structure of the ‘temple’ is visible, the small wooden gate guarding the entrance opening into a well-kept interior, the grass mown to a standard that wouldn’t look out of place on the greens of a championship golf course.

It’s certainly an unusual place. Thick stone walls delineate a horseshoe shaped building, which apparently, according to the conclusions of an excavation in 1949, was similar in size and plan to temples found on Malta, hence leading to Stanydale’s ‘temple’ epithet. Inside the enclosure the large stones which make up the walls are chunky blocks, rare in this vicinity, and so again according to the 1949 dig, must have been brought some distance, a lot of trouble to go to if it was purely meant as a domestic structure perhaps, as there are plenty of suitable other types of stone for building nearby. Looking closely at the large upright stones as well I’m struck by the natural patterns on them, different coloured shapes on the stone caused by lichens giving a mosaic like effect. There are also two large postholes inside, from which charred spruce was found, the nearest source of which in Neolithic times would have been Scandinavia, unless of course they were found as driftwood?

I have a wander around the exterior, taking in the standing stones which are dotted around the perimeter of the temple. There appears to be a defined arc of stones to the south, perhaps the structure was once surrounded by them, but now it’s difficult to make out the overall layout of the stones.

Sitting back inside Stanydale to write my notes I’m struck but what a strange and unique place it is. It seems much more than just a grand dwelling, or even a fancy ‘village hall’ type of meeting place, something about its layout, the exterior stones, and three fire hearths (which again according to the excavations were not typical of domestic settings). It strikes me that I’m reminded of the main structure at Barnhouse, near Stenness on Orkney, where I was sitting only a week ago. Although the design of the two structures are very different, something about them feels the same, and I’m convinced this place had a ritual function, an old cliché I know, and based on little more than my own ‘feelings’ of the place and some sketchy evidence (no wonder I never got that Archaeology degree!)

What I can say with certainty is that Stanydale is most certainly a great place to visit. It feels both remote and welcoming, certainly unique, and a perfect place to spend some time, sheltered here from the wind, with the sun overhead, we just don’t want to leave. Magical.

Visited 17th May 2014

I’ve heard the Stone of Setter described as the finest standing stone in Orkney, now that’s certainly some claim given the lovely menhirs I’ve seen around the islands, so I was eager to put the claim to the test and hang out with the stone on my visit to Eday.

Anticipation built when the distant form of the stone appeared on the horizon as I walked north up the island’s main (well only really) road. The watery expanse of Mill loch borders the stone to one side, whilst the xanthous gorse filled slopes of the high ground of Vinquoy hill provide it with a suitably dramatic backdrop. The stone itself sits on a small saddle of land, raised and distinct from the surrounding landscape, and almost like a marker delineating the sacred area of tombs clustered at Eday’s high northern end, perhaps in a way analogous to the Watchstone on Mainland marking out the start of the Ness of Brodgar?

It’s always exhilarating when a place is in sight, and as the stone grows ever closer, I reach the Eday community shop, and stopping only to fuss a very cute cat hanging around outside, I turn left and follow the road by the loch. A sign pointing toward the stone indicated the start of the path for the Eday heritage trail, and this close up the scale of the Stone of Setter becomes clear. A great block of ruddy red sandstone standing fifteen feet tall rearing up before you, huge weathered grooves eroded into the top of the stone which is enshrouded with Orkney’s familiar lichens. It is both dramatic and beautiful.

I sit down at the base of the stone, so happy to be here, and tired after the walk. The sun is out, but with plenty of clouds about threatening to encroach on the day. I write my fieldnotes and eat my packed lunch, before embarking on the photographs. The stone takes on a different shape from each aspect. From the front on it seems to resemble a giant hand emerging from the earth ordering you to halt before it, whilst from the side it appears like a figure staring out over the loch.

Nearby are the low outlined remains of a handful of structures that the nearby information board ominously refers to as ‘de-fleshing’ chambers which may possibly have been used in rituals associated with the stone (ah the old ‘ritual use’ explanation again!) . It gets me wondering whether this was an excarnation site, similar to that postulated at the Tomb of the Eagles (although I know there is some debate as to whether excarnation did actually take place there). Given the proximity to the tombs which are scattered about Vinquoy hill, (indeed one of them, Braeside, is directly aligned with the stone) it doesn’t seem beyond the realms of possibility that the stone symbolised a transformative place where the dead were turned from their earthly fleshy form to the stone-like bones of their skeletal remains, then to be placed amongst the ancestors watching over them.

This is one of the things I love about visiting our ancient and enigmatic monuments, thinking about what role they may have played in the lives of our forbearers and their place amongst the landscape, it’s fun to speculate. If it was once the marker for a place of the dead there’s certainly no sinister atmosphere here, quite the opposite in fact though, it feels more of a joyful, transformational place.

So the best standing stone in Orkney? At present it’s indubitably the Stone of Setter, but I won’t take that as being set in stone!

I parked at N51 32 09.7 W9 29 18.0, from here it is about 300m to the tomb.

Follow the forrest track straight north, after 100m it seems that the track ends, but keep moving, as the track continues after some meters.

The wedge tomb is heavily overgrown, but nevertheless it is a nice little tomb. Due to the surrounding trees, there are no noteworthy views, which would add to the atmosphere.

Visited June 2014

I had a couple of hours break from an event in Ballincollig and headed into the rolling hills north-west of Cork city near Model Village above the Shournagh river. There’s a concentration of standing stones marked on the OS map just off a very straight north-west/south-east road that leaves the village. Alas, most of these are gone, with the simple single word ‘Removed’ on the SMR database (I should have checked before I left). I think I found one the ‘removed’ stones in the neighbouring Kileen (Muskerry East By.) townland, knocked over, smashed and dumped in a ditch. Most of the others in the locality probably met a similar fate. However, this is a survivor.

It’s about 1.5 metres tall but leaning to the east. The longer axis is NNE-SSW according to the SMR (I had no compass with me). It was a small triumph for me to find this after the earlier disappointment, though it’s not that difficult to locate, about 150 metres into a pasture field down a side road off the aforementioned very straight road. I don’t know what type the stone is, but it’s very slate-like and an almost dark lavender in colour.

A mound, or possible rath, on the road from the N3 down to the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre. Anything in this vicinity could also be a passage grave. It is in a wheat field, wildly overgrown now, but is oval, the longer axis about 25 metres north/south, and 10 metres wide.

A small and charming barrow on a slight east/west ridge above a stream. It’s roughly round, about 10 metres in diameter with evidence of a ditch/fosse and rising to a little over a metre. There’s a lump of very smooth brownstone dumped on top, a handy little stool for LM to rest on as I explained to her about the princess buried beneath. There’s other cairn-like rubble on the northern arc of the barrow. A nice little diversion if you’re in the vicinity which has other mounds and habitation sites.

This ones been on the radar for a long while now, my excuse for not getting here sooner is it’s kind of on it’s own in the middle of no where, much map reading and constant observation of road signs will in the end bring you out in Bleasedale. I thought it would be bigger, there’s a Bleasedale close at home, it’s got more houses than the whole village. We passed the school and parked by the church, there is room de plenty, no one said we couldn’t park here, no one was about at all. The path /road passes Admarsh barn on our left, and carries on until Vicarage farm, turn right before you get there, cross the field heading through a gate for the small wood. Tad-daaaa !

It was late in the afternoon after a long day stone hunting when we arrived, we were a bit knackered it has to be said, but the blue skies, fluffy clouds and the flowery fields pulled us on with no exertion needed from us at all, er, the dogs were pulling a bit so that may have contributed too. The whole wooded area is fenced off, keeping the sheep at bay, and a kissing gate lets one enter the enclosure. Immediately right is the over informative information board, I tried to read it all, honestly, then I gave up and took a photo instead, and read it at my leisure at home. There is much to read.
From the information board the ring is about fifteen yards away, I let the kids wander at will with the dogs whilst I wander round and round, looking at it from all angles, and I mean all of them, I laid down on my belly in the ditch, climbed three trees, not easy for a scardy cat with Sciatica, and then I laid down on my back in the centre of it all. My but this is a pretty place, I know there would have probably not been trees all round it, and that they hide the view of the hills with it’s eastern sunrise notch (incidentally, there is a possible cairn right next to said hilly notch called Nick’s chair, the devil is (not) often called “Old Nick”), but, I really really like it here. The tranquility is complete, even the kids are quiet and the dogs are lazing in the occasional sunny spot, birds are singing all over the place and in the fields all around at least a half dozen Curlews cry there forlorn sad song.
I didn’t really want to go, another two hours might have done it, but it really was a long day and we’re still a hundred miles from home.
A perfect place to visit if you want to break up a long drive on the M6.

Sint-Margaretakerk (in Norg)

Visited: July 11, 2014

Though often referred to as ‘Norg Kerk’, the name of this 13th century Romanesque church is the Sint-Margaretakerk. It is located on Brink, about 200 metres from Norg town-centre bus halt at Westeind.

The church is notable for the grouping of stones in front of it: a number of deeply buried supporting stones with only their tops showing are surmounted by two capstones that would do justice to many a hunebed.

This monument is not, however, credited as being a hunebed, but it seems highly likely that it is an ancient grave of some description.

We were camping on a farm just outside Slane and had to head into Drogheda for supplies. There is no way that I could be this close to Dowth and not pay it a visit. I’ve been here many times, probably more than at any other site. Dowth offers the antiquarian explorer many delights, and not a few frustrations. There is a peace here, something that pulls you that’s beyond thought. But don’t be eager to get into its passages – you won’t be able, Joe Public’s not trusted to mind his own heritage (and with good reason).

The mound itself is getting more eroded where the gouge is, where worhshippers, visitors, hippies, whatever, have built concentric rings from the rubble of the tomb. Their play is not going to effect either of the passages or chambers, but the cairn has been exposed in a couple of places and, like sore teeth, will only get worse unless remedial work is carried out.

The height of Dowth is always impressive, especially when viewed from on top of its eastern arc, or from down where the sundial stone is, easily 15 metres from the base of the kerbstones to the rim of the crater, and would have been higher as both Beranger’s and Wakeman’s old drawings show a round-topped mound.

The tomb is in a pasture field, colonised by loud, hungry sheep. Summer vegetation is covering most of the carved kerbstones – neglect being the lot of Dowth, the poor relative of Brú na Bóinne. But sure what do you want? Another Newgrange or Knowth? Hardly, but a bit of respect wouldn’t go amiss. Dowth, Dubhach, the dark place, best left alone (not really).

A large, almost flat roadside stone in the isolated townland of Toor. The bullaun, or very large cupmark, is on the northern edge of the stone, about 10 cms across and 4 cms deep. There is some folklore attached to the stone here: megalithomania.com/show/site/731/the_dailteen_stone_bullaun_stone.htm

The stone is at the beginning of a gated track that leads up into the area of Toor that has the stones circles and other antiquarian curiosities.

Wondrously perched upon the terminus of High Willhays’ south-western spur, this substantial cairn would have possessed a magnificent view down into the deep defile cradling the West Okement River.... if its (presumably Bronze Age) erectors had seen fit. Needless to say – for whatever reason(s) now lost to the swirling mists for which Dartmoor is famous/infamous (thanks in no small measure to Conan Doyle and that story about the dodgy mutt) – they didn’t, the spellbound traveller consequently having to make his way a short distance to the crest in order to peer at the rocky river valley below. Or, even better, to the granite outcropping beside what I assume to be another military observation hut(?) upon Fordsland Ledge itself. It is worth the effort, either option offering certainly one of the finest vistas I’ve seen in the area. Hey, try both.

The cairn, despite apparently having lost a little height in the century since Crossing’s visit (see Misc posts), is nevertheless well defined, its hollow interior sprouting a number of large orthostats irrevocably losing their footing and duly succumbing to Newton’s three dicta, albeit to varying degrees. It should be noted that the resulting ‘arrangement’ does not resemble any standard notion of an archetypal Dartmoor cist. And the professionals reckon a chamber ‘unlikely’. However I think it also unlikely that the stones should have been specifically transported here at a later date and erected to form a ‘shelter’, not with the much less exposed valley just below. Yeah, whatever form it took, I reckon logic suggests there probably was some sort of ‘structure’ incorporated within this cairn at its genesis. I guess only excavation might determine whether this was subsequently subject to adaptation, perhaps in historic times?

One thing is beyond dispute, however. What a fine hang this place is! The river may be obscured from the gaze of the Citizen Cairn’d lying almost comatose within.... but not the brutal grandeur of the encircling tors. Time slips by, as it must, it eventually dawning upon me that I’d better make a move and find somewhere to sleep. Descending to the approx north-west the shattered rocky tors of Black Tor look well worth a visit. However I find I’ve less in the ‘reserve tank’ than I previously thought and press on toward Longstone Hill. Ha! But wait, there’s more....

Heading approx south from the high crags of Yes Tor.... well, certainly ‘high’ for these parts, anyway.... the traveller will reach the marginally taller (2,039ft/621m) summit of High Willhays in ‘round about half a mile of more-or-less level plodding enhanced by some fine medium/distant views. The topography of the summit plateau itself is (thankfully) enlivened by several granite outcrops – or ‘tors’ – exposed rock formations apparently laid down some 280 million years ago by the greatest powers of all. Now there’s a number to make the head spin, assuming the climb up here doesn’t cause the old knapper’s gyroscope to malfunction first.

If the current OS maps are to be taken at face value... well, that is that. However this being Dartmoor, where the remnants of past civilisations often appear (to me) to merge seamlessly with the very landscape itself, it can arguably pay dividends to sit down and let the subconscious do some observing before subsequently letting the conscious ‘you’ in on the secret. First up is TSC’s ‘revetted mound’ adjoining the southern flank of the initial tor encountered at SX58028944. To be fair, if my experience is anything to go by, it is easily missed, not least since the construction is not something I’ve encountered elsewhere, at least in this upland context. So OK, although I’m not 100% convinced it is of prehistoric origin – my lack of Dartmoor expertise notwithstanding – it’s nonetheless difficult to think of what else it could represent up here?

The actual summit tor of the mountain is crowned by a rather pathetic attempt at a walker’s cairn, seemingly so precariously sited as to be at the mercy of the next storm front. The intervals between which, I would assume, are not that excessive. However as I plonk myself down to take in the moment, not to mention some caffeine, I’m suddenly aware of an arc of what looks suspiciously like the remnants of a retaining kerb below to the near east at SX58038922. No, surely not? Closer inspection only serves to further convince me that these ‘orthostats’ can not be the result of natural outcropping and stand here as a result of human agency, that derisory summit cairn actually representing the lingering residue of a much more ancient monument (see Misc post). Yeah, that’s better. And funnily enough EH agree, a retrospective search of Pastscape citing these standing stones as forming part of a possible ring cairn to complement the monument to the north. Seems Dartmoor’s highest tor isn’t so unaccountably devoid of archaeology as might initially be surmised. Bonus site. I can live with that.

I can also live with descending back to the car via cairns sited at Fordsland Ledge and upon Longstone Hill. Not that I’m aware of the latter. Yet.

This stone circle ranks on my wish list for Kerry and Cork for quite a while. Last time I was here, a warn signs prevents me from visiting the site with my family, but this time I was alone and the sign is highly weathered or otherwise flawed now, which means it is unreadable and so it didin’t stop me from trying to get to the circle.

I think I found a good approach to reach this site.

I parked at N51 50 07.6 W9 36 52.5 and walk the road back for about 130m, here a farm track leave the road (N51 50 11.0 W9 36 51.4).

Pass a gate and follow this track until you came to an abandoned farm house. Behind this farm house you will see a second gate and a further farm track. Follow this track for about 150m until you came to a fork, take the right path here. This track leads you, after some zigzags, directly to the circle.

The circle is one of the finest stone circle in Kerry, with nearly all stones still in place, only one of the entrance stones lies on the ground. Like other multiple stone circles in this area (Uragh West, Kenmare, Dromagurteen, Gurteen), there is a boulder burial in the middle of the circle. Also the isolated location adds to the atmosphere. This is really a must see site, if you are in this area.

From the mentioned car parking it is ~1km always completely on farm tracks to the circle.

Visited June 2014

‘Climbed’ to this really nice stone circle from the car park at Uragh on probably one of the hottest days of the Irish summer 2014. Follow Meic’s directions and don’t worry about the fact, that on the last sign (were you have to leave the farm track) only ‘Boulder Burial’ and ‘Fulacht fia’ are mentioned (no Stone Circle).

The circle is great and worth every effort (I needed ~1h from the car park to the circle and back). Unfortunately at my time of visit, it was very overgrown, so maybe a visit in autumn or winter would be the better choice.

Behind the circle are additional boulder buriels and what seems to be a natural huge rock fragment.

Visited June 2014

Only 500m northeast of the famous Uragh are the probable remains a another stone circle. Only two stone are still standing, three others lay fallen on the ground.

Although the circle lies close to the road to Gleninchaquin Park, Ameen River between the road and the circle prevents an easy access, unless you are willing to ford the river.

So I walked from Uragh on a hot, sunny day in June, but the last 200m were nevertheless very boggy. While some water weept into my shoes, I was wondering what the hell I was doing here, particularly as I know that the stone circle is in a ruinous condition and not a really worthwhile destination. So don’t try this approach after heay rain.

Visited June 2014