CianMcLiam

Beltany at dawn, 16th October 2005.

After the mind boggling Beaghmore at sunset the evening before, Beltany feels a wilder, more foreboding place than the almost amusingly scattered Tyrone complex. Maybe this was due to the fact that I arrived here while it was still dark and the tree lined laneway up to the circle was much longer and spookier than I had anticipated.

There are lots of curiously shaped stones, the two largest stones are extraordinary. This site was once a true masterpeice, now in its slightly ruined state it still hits the psychological nerve ends.

Even after dawn there was not enough light to find all the marked stones but I did find the large stone with dozens of cup marks on its inner face and attempted to get a good photo of them.

Spectacular just doesn’t do this site justice. The astonishing capstone matched with the curvaceous portal stones make this possibly the most impressive sculpture in Ireland, ancient or modern.

You enter through a gate behind the church in Kilclooney More village (not through the field directly behind the church which gets shoe-suckingly boggy very quickly). Ardara where I stayed is a bumpy ten minute drive away and makes a good base for visiting this area. Take some time to explore the amazing landscapes around Dungloe and Glenties while you here.

The small tomb is cute, the fact that its almost ruined adding injury to insult of playing second fiddle to the beast next to it.

In a pile of rocks along the pathway lurks a large suspiciously capstone-like slab resting on two boulders, perhaps it was a discarded capstone, quickly forgotten when the extraordinary present capstone was hauled onto the site.

Kilclooney Dolmen seems to be gaurded by a large black dog, at first I thought the dog came with some tourists who arrived but it turned out not to be theirs. The dog stayed with me until I left as it got dark. Next morning I arrived at 7am for sunrise and the dog was waiting at the tombs again. He seems quite friendly, certainly a bit more than the edgy bulls that were moving around the dense undergrowth like hippos in a pond.

Exactly located as in The Megalithic European, I was on the way to Reanascreena when I stopped for a coffee and saw these stones in Julian’s book. Going with my gut feeling I change my plans and I’m glad in a way.

The tallest of the group of three is superb, reminding me of the massive outlier next to Uragh stone circle, its nearest neighbour is wonderfully craggy and splintered. All the stones are well worn from cattle rubbing on their thin edges, the tall one is especially blade like.

The hedge beside the group of three is a top contender for most undesirable hedge of the year, being too close to appreciate the stones atop of the ridge and perhaps hiding remants of the rest of this monument. Some very large slabs are piled up beneath the bushes.

I was glad of the electric fence dividing the field in two, the bulls here were the most aggressive I’ve encountered, all stamping hoofs and snorting nostrils. Beware they aren’t grazing in the same field as the stones because you cant see most of the field from the gate which looks like its part time electrified too.

The weather brightened up as I was leaving and I had to enjoy the sunset in the Cork traffic...

Pick a nice day to come here, its really spellbinding in the late evening on a fine day. That bloody pallet is still there though...

I took a good wander around the vicinity today, I never noticed how steep the valley is below the tomb, I didn’t go all the way to the bottom but it looks fantastic perched on the edge of the ridge. This is another tomb I find difficult to imagine a cairn around, there is the large platform remains there but it is such a perfect angular structure it would be a shame to hide it away.

There is now an area cleared across the road which, if it is going to be parking, would fit quite a few cars. Most likely another bungalow though...

This was a nice surprise, the tomb gets little attention due to the spectacular Aughnacliffe Dolmen in the village but its very nice indeed. Even the locals downplayed it, saying it was better to see the other one instead.

The field it is in is down a very narrow boreen and there is very little room to park, best bet is to go past the field and park outside the next house on the right, its hard to tell whether someone still lives there. Its easy to miss as you drive past because in the field opposite there seems to be alot of stones sticking out of the ground that look like the ruins of something or other.

The tomb is larger than I had expected, its at a funny angle but this isn’t as noticeable now that the field is so overgrown and it blends in perfectly in the warm evening sun. It clouded over as I was here but for the ten minutes the sun was out it was very nice indeed.

This tomb almost made me laugh out loud when I saw it first, as you cross the field you can see the top of a luxuriant crop of leaves sticking up over the bank. The thought ‘surely it can’t be...’ was going through my head but yes, there it stood like a peacock pining for a hen.

The tomb itself is great, even the broken and crumbled portal stone cant detract from this one. the construction seems odd, the two back stones form a V shape negating the need for a closing slab. It appers to sit in a long wide cairn but is not in line with it, the portals would have pointed off to the right. Maybe the low mound stretching behind it was not a cairn but it does seem like it.

I saw one ruined passage tomb near to the tomb and a possible second slightly higher above that, the side of the valley seems to step and the tombs are in a mini plateau.

If you are going here, the first thing to look for is not the tomb, its the grumpy bull and his family that hide in the next field until they can cut off your path and out-flank you. They seemed to wait until I was 50 metres away from my camera pack and tripod before launching the manouveres but luckily only the weeny little baby bull looked like he wanted to get physical. Only got a few photos as a result. I will be back!