IronMan

Our first site visit in Ireland. We watched the evening roll in from the top of the mound. This site is what it’s all about really – it is perfect, there can be no mistaking that. The carvings, though faded, and maybe not as intricate as their more famous Boyne relatives, have a delicate beauty which just cannot be described. The surrounding landscape has a melancholy air, enhanced by the ruined church in the next field.

Whilst hanging out here, recovering from our journey, a few American tourists turned up, fresh from the Newgrange experience. They didn’t stay long, five minutes at the most. This is the beauty of Dowth, it doesn’t give itself up to the casual, slightly interested tourist, hungry for something they can understand. Mystery lives on here.

Our lodgings for the next couple of nights were in the Glebe House B&B, literally just over the wall from the site. We were lucky to get the nearest room to the mound, so I found myself waking in the night, and looking out through the curtains, just to check it was still there! I would reccommend staying nearby (especially at Glebe House) to anyone visiting the Boyne sites, this gives you the opportunity to spend some real time here. Just hang around and soak it in. This is probably one of the best sites you’ll ever see – and it could well be in danger of becoming another part of the Disneyland Newgrange experience. That would be a very sad day indeed.

This strangely shaped stone sits proudly, across the road from the circle. While the Rollright stones and the Whispering Knights are partly hidden this stone commands a much broader view from the land below.

Trapped within a fence, but still with a clear view to the rollrights nearby, these stones really grabbed me. The trees and hedges around hinder the view of the whole complex but I found I was able to imagine the psychology behind this place.

Visited en-route from London to Holyhead. This site has been on my list of sites I yearned to visit for a long time now, and arriving here I wan’t at all dissapointed. The landscape surrounding is peaceful – not exactly awe inspiring, but calm and reflective. We waited here till it got dark then continued on to Anglesey.

I drove down from London with three friends and spent the afternoon here. The sites position is particularly well chosen. Approaching from the west, the site is on the edge of a very gently sloping plateau, from the East however it is a totally different picture. Here the site is in full view from the lower ground below.

On our visit the stones had been left marked with chalked pentacles. I was sorry to have to leave them that way, but having no way of removing them, and realising that chalk can make a mess, I resigned myself to the fact that someone from the National Trust would eventually sort this out.

On the way from Lancashire down to London, we decided to break up the journey by paying a visit to the Rollrights. Although the sun beamed down and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the air was freezing. The limestone circle is oddly reminscent of the stones at Arbor Low, so gnarled and worn. The site is set, with portal stones, in a similar alignment to the big Cumbrian circles of Sunkenkirk & Castlerigg.

The huge circle at Grange stands in a fantastic neolithic complex. A further two circles, standing stones, wedge-tombs and crannógs make up this wonderful landscape. We made our visit en-route to Cork, so managed the main circle, one other circle and a wedge tomb, but I’m sure a few days could be spent exploring this landscape.

The henge circle itself is fascinating.

Walking through the stone lined entrance passage, the view stretches across to a large V shaped notch at the far end of the circle, aligned on the Samain sunset (Burl) and/or the moon’s minimum midsummer setting in 2500BC (Weir).

From the centre of the circle, to the NE lies a huge 20 ton stone, known as Rounach Croim Dubh, ‘the prominent black stone’ (Burl) or my prefered translation Huge Black Stooper (Weir). This stone is aligned on the midsummer sunrise. The psychology of this site is second to none. I found it easier than ever to contemplate the effect of these events on the minds of the Neolithic people.

We spent a good portion of the afternoon lazing about here, the sun was beating down, and I had a bit of a hangover from the Cope gig in Dublin. I couldn’t think of a better place to hang out.

Ardgroom has the most varied scenery I’ve yet seen for a stone circle. Huge mountains, small green hills, crags, the sea and running streams are all around. The circle is an RSC, yet the recumbent is a lozenge shaped, pointed stone – a strange choice perhaps, but for the fact that it seems to echo a craggy conical hill to the SSW. On the approach to the circle we drove round this hill, commenting that it had to be an important, sacred feature here.

This RSC lies near the end of the Beara peninsula, just outside the village of Castletownbere. According to Burl this is ‘almost a classic recumbent circle’, with an unusual orientation. It is set almost due W, at 273°, but the surrounding hills are high and the ‘declination is an un-equinoctial 5°’.

High up on a hillside, on the east coast of the Beara peninsula, this little tomb has a great view out to sea over Bantry bay and the surrounding mountains. My rough reading put this site on a midwinter sunset alignment, aligned on a lump (cairn?) on a distant mountain.

This multiple stone circle stands in the Borlin valley and is very easy to find. It is literally on the side of the road. The location is great – making this a worthwhile visit, but the site is a little confusing in it’s orientation. According to Jack Roberts it is set on the Feb/Nov cross quarter. The Borlin Valley Standing Stone, further along the higher road, is also worth visiting, being so close.

3 sites in 1.

The circle is a small 5 stone, with a the recumbent set at the SW. Next to this are a pair of huge standing stones and a radial cairn. The site is excellent, and in such a beatiful location.

On the way back we bumped in to JC and struck up a conversation about the difficulty of finding these sites in Cork. We all agreed it is definitely worth the trouble, and that the key is to not get too stressed out about it!

A wrecked circle – worth the visit when visiting Kealkil which lies just a 1/4 mile away to the NE. The portals and the recumbent are still standing, so it is possible to get a fair idea of how this site must have once been. The view is awesome. The ring also contains a rectangle of four boulder-burials.

A beautiful site in an equally beautiful location. Drombeg’s dark reputation doesn’t seem to hold up. The setting of the portals and recumbent is perfect and easy to work out. The nearby huts and cooking place add to the atmosphere.

I always leave sites with a bit of other people’s litter – a used flourescent red condom from the recumbent was taken from this vist. Nice.

I found this site a bit difficult to understand. Some of the stones are missing, and the surrounding land has been heavily altered for farming.
The stones themselves were tall and flat-topped.

JC was parked in the lay-by, typing up his notes, as we arrived.