The Modern Antiquarian. Stone Circles, Ancient Sites, Neolithic Monuments, Ancient Monuments, Prehistoric Sites, Megalithic MysteriesThe Modern Antiquarian

Ballinvally

Stone Circle

Fieldnotes

Well this is an odd one! There's been so much destruction its hard to imagine what originally stood here, but its not anything like a mis-interpretation of a ruined kerb from a cairn as I had thought in the back of my mind. The stones are massive, much larger than I expected, Burl says four are standing but on the ground its a bit more complicated. There are indeed four large stones, as tall, if not taller, than those around Newgrange but only one is quite as bulky. These stand in a sort of bent and stretched square but there are also large stones prostrate inside the area of the circle, to one side is a pile of field clearance or a ruined wall which has a large block sitting almost upright with what looks like packing stones underneath.
Beside another large upright there are two low stones, one about 6ft long and the other much smaller but they seem to arc around on a tangent from what would have been the circle. Very odd. They are much smaller than the upright beside them and look very mismatched but original nonetheless. There are lots of large and small slabs just visible around the place, inside and outside the circle and there is what looks like a large pit surrounded by heaps of large stones (field clearance?) off to the west of the circle, about 150 yards maybe. I didn't venture over here because of a large herd of tetchy cows and calves watching my every move. Didn't see any of the rock art Martin Brennan referred to but I think some was carted off to the National Museum in Dublin. Gave up looking in the gloomy light, not a great time to photograph or hunt rock carvings!

The owner of the land seemed ok with visitors but the directions were vague enough to border on the unhelpful so a bit hard to judge. Seemed cheery though so do call in as you have to go through his yard and down a very, very muddy track. Wear good boots and a smile and you should be alright!
CianMcLiam Posted by CianMcLiam
2nd October 2006ce
Edited 2nd October 2006ce

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