I read about this circle in Archaeology Irelands pull-out on the Curragh and said I had to see it. Especially since its not listed on the OS map as a circle. Brewell's Hill is only about 222m high but it has commanding views into at least 5 counties. To get up to it I parked at the road just before the field with the barrows in it. Its only half a km from the road in a small pine plantation that you can clearly see from the road.
The circle itself consists of four stones, three of them large and two of them probably made from quartz. The most interesting stone to me was the one with the cupmarks on it. They are slender and beautiful and kind of look like scales on the back of the stone.
I met the farmer who was up checking his sheep and he told me a little folklore about the stones (I was actually hiding in the ditch waiting for him to leave but he spotted me, so ill have to improve on my camoflague skills).
There is another stone circle on "Brewel Hill" known as "The Piper's Stones.
The tradition about these stones is A lot of maidens were tempted to dance on an holy day, while a piper played for them. Like a flash of lightening they were all changed into stones.
Collected as part of the Schools Collection in the 1930s, and now online at Duchas.ie.
On the summit of Brewel Hill, 2 1/2 miles S.W. of Dunlavin, encircled by a wide double entrenchment now much levelled, is a group of four large boulders of which two are granite, another is of white quartz while the fourth is of red "pudding stone." Locally they are known as the "Piper's Stones," the quartz one being called the "Piper's Chair," from the resemblance its form bears to that of a chair.
[...] According to legend, three giants - pipers by profession - had a dispute as to which of them could throw a stone the farthest. They decided to put their strength to the test and chose Knuckadow, a tall hill about a mile and a half south of Brewel, as the position from which the "cast" was to be thrown. The stones landed on the top of Brewel hill where they remain to this day. The fourth, and smallest boulder, was thrown by a young ambitious piper who was spectator of the contest and desired to emulate his older brethren.
Legend, also relates that one of these giants had a famous greyhound which, two days after the contest, leaped from Knuckadow to Brewel, and, landing on the stones, left the imprint of its toe nails on each boulder.
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).
I met a lovely sheep-farmer up here called Jim (I was hiding in the bushes, I think he must have thought I was a sheep-worrier). Nice guy he said that they were known locally as the Pipers Stones. The cup-marks he said were the feet of cuchalainns hound that jumped from here to the Bog of Allen to the north. A serious jump by anyones standards. He mentioned hooves so maybe it was cuchalainns steed rather than hound, I think that has a better ring to it.
Brewell's Hill (Ancient Village / Settlement / Misc. Earthwork) — Fieldnotes
This is, maybe, a raised Rath. I'm not sure. It has an outer bank with an inner ditch and then it rises again into a central platform. Hard enough to make out from the picture, but if anyone is up looking at the stone circle might it be worth a look to see what you think.
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