About as close to a 'proper' stone circle as you get on the Isle of Man, this was high on the list of sites to visit during our trip.
Heading back up to Port Erin after a visit to the lovely Cronk Karran hut circle, we took an unlisted single track road towards Ballnahowe. Despite keeping a sharp eye out we nearly flew past the pull in for the site, no signposts (not even a parking sign) indicate the muddy layby, which looks little more then a passing place in the road, only by noticing a fence and sign on the steep ridge of the hill did we know we were in the right place.
But what a place it is! A steep walk up the path to the top showed us another of Man's unusual monuments. Six main cists form the circle, and I'm not sure whether this was once a circle that has been re-cycled into a burial place by having cairns built into the perimeter. it also looks as if there may once have been an original embankment or henge style monument here at one time, although the estimable Mr Burl makes no mention of this in his guide to stone circles.
I hunker down in one of the cists to escape the gale force winds, and now sheltered and cosy am able to write some field notes.
It's definitely a dificult site to get a handle on, but its uniqueness lends it an air of mystery, and somewhere you must see if you are on Man. I'd love to stay longer, but the cold wind, and thoughts of lunch in Port Erin pull us on.
Visited 26th August 2003: This place is mad. It's so close to a stone circle, but it ain't. The setting is spectacular, high above Port Erin with views out to the Calf of Man. There's a lot of sea visible, and with the crest of the hill on the landward side of the circle it seems reasonable to assume that the site is orientated towards the coast.
As well as being spectacular and special, Meayll is very difficult to do any justice to on 'film'. It's definitely one of those optimised for 3D sites, where walking among the stones is the only way to really figure it out. We got a bit of sunshine, and it all felt very good. It goes without saying that Meayll is megalithic Mann royalty. Blinkin' great!
A word of warning for anyone with limited mobility; the distance from the road to the circle is relatively short, but it's entirely made up of a steep incline. Not at all wheelchair friendly.
In his book A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany (ISBN: 0-300-06331-8) Aubrey Burl alludes to a tale about a ghostly army of horsemen that has been glimpsed riding by the circle.
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