ocifant

A quarter mile off the road, clearly in sight, but this took some time to reach, due to the (barbed wire) fences in the way and the boggy ground underfoot. Again, like so many Irish sites, wonderful views can be seen in all directions.

This circle is accompanied by an ancient low wall, which heads off to the west from the circle.

This circle lies on an ancient trackway called the ‘Old Green Road’. It’s a fair climb up from the road at V755578, firstly through boggy woodland next to a stream, then across open moorland. There are several stiles to traverse. If you’ve got the time, it’s a wonderful trek, and is part of the much longer Beara Way walk.

Once at the circle, only 3 stones of the original 5 remain. Close by, is a row of alignment stones and further off, the ruined remains of a multiple stone circle. Excellent views can be had of the surrounding mountains and down to Killmakilloge Harbour.

I found a large lump of solid white quartz nearby, and left it in the middle of the three stones before leaving – it seemed to fit there somehow.

A confusing site. I’d come here for the Boulder Burial, but other aspects intrigue. There appears to be a ruined circle, what looks like a ‘mini-cove’ enclosing a cairn, and a couple of large boulders which may have been burials in their own right at some point in the distant past. All accompanied by the sound of running water from the nearby river. Too much for me to make sense of.

A wonderful site, well worth the climb up the hill. There is now a rather obvious unlocked sprung gate, with the now obligatory ‘No Trespassing’ sign attached, leading to the site from the top of the hill. It took some time to traverse the boggy ground leading to the stones, and approaching the site I was sure there was a recumbent sheep guarding the way. It turned out to be a smooth boulder, outside and away from the main complex. The cairn has a couple of bushes growing well in the middle, but I was amazed at the intricacy of the cairn and the sheer number of stones.

The uprights have a very pronounced male/female aspect to them, but I couldn’t spot any glaring alignments to them in the surrounding scenery.

I’ll confess I was so blown away by the cairn, uprights and views, I didn’t really take much notice of the circle at the time. I did notice the gradation appeared to be opposite to other circles in that the stones increase in height toward the axial stone as opposed to the more usual decrease in height. I must study my photos closer.

I could only get the barest glimpse of these stones. The cows I saw weren’t as friendly as the ones in the pictures here, and had horns. Bullocks!

I could barely make these out from the road, above all the vegetation. It’s no surprise I couldn’t find the Clodagh circle on the ridge on the opposite side of the road with this level of growth...

Looking at the map, this sits beyond a farmhouse at the end of a trackway. I followed the track past the house, but couldn’t see anything of note. I was being watched by a clan of kids, so couldn’t go past the gate to see what was further in the field.

Fourwinds reported on his website that a ‘demon dog’ from the adjacent house guards this site. As I parked the car, a dog did indeed come bounding out, barking aggressively. The dog’s owner soon followed, and I explained that I wanted to see the stones in the adjoining field. She was very friendly, coming from London (Wembley) herself, and was amazed when I told the story of the ‘demon dog’. I made friends with both her dogs, and used her garden to take photos of the stones themselves. Sadly, I couldn’t get into the field to see the circle close up, due to the presence of a couple of young bullocks, but it’s plain that only two stones remain of the circle.

If you do visit here, the house owner desperately misses a good English cheese and I’m sure would appreciate someone dropping some in!

Parking in the farmyard, follow the track through the farm, which eventually snakes up the hill (it’s marked on the OSI map). The stones are beyond the second gate on the track.

I found it difficult to make out the form of the circle, which doesn’t seem to follow the Irish RSC pattern. I may just not have seen it, as all the stones are quite low, only about a foot or so high. A nice setting though, even if the stones aren’t that great.

The map also shows a Standing Stone and Burial Ground close by, but I didn’t spot them.

This circle is incomplete, but sits in a wonderful setting near the banks of the Ardrigeen River.

Unusually, it seems to be situated at the foot of a rise rather than on the high point.

Not much left of this, unfortunately. Just a pile of stones, looking like field clearance, on the ridge. A couple of uprights on the edges provide the clues.

‘Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry’ suggests parking at the road junction and approaching the hill from the West. I parked on the junction as suggested, opposite a gate to a field full of cows. That’s the one, I told myself, leapt the gate and set off. Crossing the field, I was aware the cows were watching me. As I’d passed them and was starting to climb the hill, I heard the thunder of hooves behind me. I turned to find two of the beasts charging me! I waved my stick while backing away, which confused them for all of 5 seconds before they started forward again. Luckily I was close to the electric wire fence, and ducked under it quickly. The power wasn’t on, but I hoped they didn’t know that. I’m sure they could have uprooted the fenceposts easily by just leaning against the wire. They came right up to the wire, and looked around the corner of the hill, where I’d started climbing. I looked back to find they’d doubled their numbers! I continued up, but drew a complete blank. I was on the wrong damned hill, trapped by a herd of manic cows! Maybe waving my stick hadn’t been such a good idea…

I looked around, and found another trackway up the adjoining hill, so decided to try my luck that way. On top of this hill, I found two very sad looking stones. Surely this can’t be it? Half a page in Roberts’ book for this? I looked around, almost in desperation now, and spotted, just on the brow of the next hill along, what might have been a glimpse of a stone. No turning back now I thought, and made my way across. Electric wire was everywhere along the field boundary, which also had a substantial hedge. Milling back and forth, I found only one spot that looked traversable, and what looked like a droveway on the other side.

I clambered through and let myself down, only to find myself being sucked under into very soft earth. I lost my balance whilst trying to reach firm ground on the bank, slipped and put my hand down into a bed of nettles! “This can’t get any worse”, I thought. “There’s nothing left to happen. I’ve been chased and trapped by cows, sucked at by the ground, and my hand bloody stings all over! Get some dock, quick.”

Back on firm ground, I started toward the crest of the hill, when I spied more cows looking at me. For once, luck was with me when I saw at least two lengths of cattle wire separating us. And there were the stones! I boldly marched up to take my pictures. Sadly, the ground was too overgrown to actually enter the circle and I didn’t want to antagonise the cows any more than I had already done by approaching the boulder tomb a little way off, so I turned to try to find my way back to the car.

The droveway seemed the best idea, despite the soft ground, so I followed it for a short way, only to find it petered out after 50 yards or so. The farm was obviously in the other direction! Undeterred, I continued on through the nettles. Hey, my hand and leg were stinging like nothing I’ve ever felt before. There was nothing left to go wrong, was there? I came to a field boundary, like a small thicket, but one that the cows had been through before. The ground was soft here again, and there were other more obvious signs. Must be a way through then, right? Well almost. I battled my way through, then came to the ubiquitous electric wire fence again. A nervous glance around, no cows, and over we go. I’m now in a field, that appears to border a road, and there’s a gate! I rush across to it, scale the gate and find myself less than 50 yards away from the car. Sweet mercy! Back in the car and relating the adventure to Mikki, bugger me if the original bolshie cows don’t come right up to the gate where I started and look straight at us, as if to say “if this gate weren’t here, pal, we’d have you!” So take Jack Roberts’ advice and park where he suggests, but walk up the road a short way before looking to head across the fields.

I took Fourwinds’ advice (see his website for details) and ignored the sign about the bull (on the road to the northeast, which our landlady’s local handyman had confirmed was only there to scare off the tourists and avoid any litigation if they hurt themselves), and used the next gate down with an overgrown track. This led directly to a field boundary, through which I could see the circle. Unfortunately, there was no obvious way through the boundary so I made my way to the corner of the field, and shimmied over the wall. Looking around the field I now found myself in, I couldn’t see any break in the boundary at all! There must be one, as the cows had obviously visited recently.

Anyway, the stones were a wonderful introduction to the Irish style, and I could see the cottage from within the circle! Must remember to check when we get back ‘home’ later.

The views from here are wonderful.

The capstone sits, looking like some futuristic airship briefly docked on the uprights. My imagination was playing overtime just standing staring at it...

Went there. Loved it.

Mikki wants the house next door, just so we can say “look what we live next to!”