ryaner

Now a stone pair, but once said to have three stones, they are aligned north-east/south-west. Both stones are over a metre tall and are about two metres from the road and in what will be the front garden of the newly built and for sale bungalow. We didn’t stick around here for very long, in a rush to get to Letter court tomb.

Castleruddery never looked better than today. The farmer really looks after the site and the grass was newly mown, leaving the circle a tad sterile, but I’ve imagined it as a ceremonial meeting place that would have had days like this in the bronze age, done up in all its finery, awaiting the guests for whatever ritual was to be performed.

The circle of stones is really quite wrecked, with the remains of smashed stones in the centre of the lot, and others strewn near the entrance. The bank of the henge rises quite steeply in the north-east arc, well over a metre, almost obliterating the exterior view of some of the orthostats.

Like at Boleycarrigeen later on this day, 4/9/13, we lolled about in the sun, drinking in the atmosphere, admiring the huge quartz entrance stones and hugging up the energy of the place.

Boleycarrigeen was great today, 4/9/13, still opened up with views all around. There is an old farm track to the south of the circle that brings you conveniently to within 150 metres of the stones. Bracken still grows inside and around it, but a bit of tamping down of this reveals the monument.

I’m always awestruck with the presence of Keadeen dominating the place, but appreciated the views across north-north-west to Brusselstown. We dozed around the circle in the late summer sunshine, kicking back and chilling before a return to the city.

There are 5 bullauns that I know of at Brittas – a single, two doubles (one of which is broken), one with five basins and one with six. We managed to find the fiver and sixer and the unbroken double. I know where the other two are but I couldn’t be bothered to find them as the under- and over-growth was so dense.

I love the six-basined stone. It’s one of the most graceful pieces of prehistoric sculpture that I’ve come across. It easily rivals the bullaun stone at Kilbeg. Every time I pass by here I have to see it, and yet it’s in danger of being swallowed up by the earth that it springs from. The stone, like the five-basined “hand print of St Lawrence O’Toole” is earthfast. The nearby stream regularly fills the basins and silt builds up, giving damp-loving plants an ideal spot to take hold in. This could easily completely cover the stone in time as no-one seems to know they’re here, let alone look after them.

I’ve checked the National Monuments Database and there are just two stones recorded here – the broken double and the five-basined stone. The last site visit here was in November 2012 and there would be less vegetation at that time so I’m wondering how they missed the other three. Oh well, maybe somebody will notice this in time.

Very accessible standing stone in the forestry here, close to the Glen of Imaal. On the day we were there in early September, 2013, the army were practicing their artillery fire – made us feel relieved to live in a peaceful country.

The stone itself is really rather beautiful, partially covered with a red lichen and heart-shaped. It’s well over two metres tall, and aligned east-west on its longer axis. The southern side curiously seems the more ‘hidden’ side, craggy and pitted as opposed to the flat northern side. The Ogham is in the north-east ‘corner’ and reads MAQI Ni/eLI (’of the son of Níall?’)(According to the Arch. Inventory.)