Athgreany

Also known as:
The Piper's Stones
Nearest town:
Ballymore Eustace (7km NNW)
OS reference:
N931033
OS sheet:
56
Latitude:
53° 4' 20.08 N
Longitude:
6° 36' 38.86 W
Added to TMA by

Sites within Athgreany

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Images

Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by ryaner

Possibly 2 portal stones, framing the glen between Slievecorragh and Church mountain, possible where the sun rises on Summer Solstice. i must rise earlier!

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jun 22, 2014
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by ryaner

Through a male and female pair towards the outlier.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jun 22, 2014
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by ryaner

The south-eastern arc, towards the standing stone and habitation site above, with church mountain behind.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jun 22, 2014
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by ryaner

The north-eastern arc, towards the standing stone and habitation site above, with church mountain behind.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jun 22, 2014
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by ryaner

The circle, with the glen between Slievecorragh and Church mountain behind, Summer Solstice 2014.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jun 22, 2014
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by ryaner

Another male and female pair, with Church mountain in the background.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jun 26, 2013
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by ryaner

A male and female pair, with the outlier and Slievecorragh as supporting cast.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jun 26, 2013
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by CianMcLiam

Snow and some freezing fog, especially atmospheric in the late evening sun

Image credit: Ken Williams/ShadowsandStone.com 2010
CianMcLiam
CianMcLiam Jan 7, 2010
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by CMK

The sun rising over Church Mountain at Solstice, 22 December, 2006 taken from within the stone circle.

Image credit: CMK
C
CMK Dec 23, 2006
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by Vicster

Another arty shot looking through the tree towards the stones.

Image credit: Victoria Carter
Vicster
Vicster Aug 16, 2006
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by Vicster

Me trying out an arty shot from across the top of the largest stone. Not sure it worked!

Image credit: Victoria Carter
Vicster
Vicster Aug 16, 2006
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by ryaner

The deep carvings on top of the outlier. One of the axes is carved along a seam of quartz.

Image credit: ryaner
ryaner
ryaner Jun 9, 2006
Image of Athgreany (Stone Circle) by CianMcLiam

The massive outlier which has cross shaped channels carved into the top as well as some faint cup marks.

Image credit: Ken Williams
CianMcLiam
CianMcLiam Jun 26, 2005

Articles

Athgreany

C
CARL Jun 16, 2011

Visited 25.5.11
We parked in a small lay by and I walked over the wooden stile towards the information board. (The site is signposted – Pipers stone circle)
It was a good start to the walk to the stone circle – some kind soul had started to kill off the dreaded gorse in the field approaching the stone circle!!
(I hate gorse!)
As I walked up the hill I thought I could see the tops of the stones starting to appear – only to realise that they were in fact sheep!!
The weather had taken a turn for the worse and it had started to rain, with increased wind.
Undeterred I spent a fair bit of time here admiring the stone circle – it really is a cracking site.
Several of the stones are very large, one above head height.
There is a large quartz outliner that appeared to have a groove across the top?
This is another easy site to access and yet another that is well worth a visit when in the area.

Athgreany

D
dougf Jul 10, 2009

A hawthorn tree located in the ring of the circle leans sharply along the circumference of the ring with its trunk split into multiple sections which come back together; branches both ascend towards the sky and descend to the ground and are re-rooted, with the trunk eventually re-rooting as well. People leave offerings in the branches. I saw coins, bits of clothing, key chain sheep, and a manikin formed from a tuft of wool. I wondered if the manikin was something more than an offering.

This tree understandably is treated as a fairy tree. The offerings are similar to those left at holy wells dedicated to Irish saints, but there was no indication of any connection to saints, Catholicism, or Christianity here.

Athgreany

Vicster
Vicster Aug 16, 2006

After the disappointment of not being able to get close to either the Punchestown Stone nor the Craddockstown Stone, we arrived here fairly down-hearted. We pulled onto the side of the road by the sign for the circle and headed up the hill.

When we reached the top of the incline, our mood immediately lifted when we saw the most beautiful circle in front of us. This is a very round circle and reminded me of Glenquickan in Scotland, both in size (although the stones here are much bigger) and the location.

There was a family already there, father and 3 kids and I noiticed that he had Burl’s guide with him. We started chatting and he explained that he had been helping a friend excavate the site on the day the picture for Burl’s book was taken. This was the first time he had been back to the site and he was trying to work out the postion of the photo. After 30 minutes of chatting, he recommended other sites for us to visit in the area and the combination of the stones and the kindness of strangers made our disappointing morning a distant memory.

Folklore

Athgreany
Stone Circle
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Feb 27, 2010

Twenty-one yards north-west of the “piper” (the outer stone of the circle) are two smaller stones 10 yards apart; they seem to be the end stones of an avenue leading to the circle.

The only explanation of this remarkable monument which I could obtain in the neighbourhood was that “bag-pipe” music played by the good people or fairies was to be heard occasionally at the spot.

From ‘The Antiquities of the Dunlavin-Donard District (Counties of Wicklow and Kildare)’ by Patrick T. Walshe, in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 7th series, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Dec. 31, 1931).

Topics

The moon and the sun 8
ryaner
ryaner
Jun 2006
Athgreany Sunset 4
FourWinds
FourWinds
Nov 2005

Sites within 20km of Athgreany

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