Megalithomania - Trip Blog

March 07, 2010: Several Tombs With Varying Degrees Of Preservation - 6 Sites

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

One of my goals for this year involves seeing more sites in Monaghan and this is where I decided to concentrate my efforts today. The weather was fantastic and we (my daughter and I) enjoyed a couple of hours in Rossmore Forest, where we had a nice walk, took some photos and saw a court tomb. This is a lovely place and the people of Monaghan are so lucky to have this right on their doorstep.

After the forest we set off in a southwesterly direction and visited a few more tombs, including a beautiful wedge tomb and a great court tomb. At two sites we came across little piles of snow hidden behind hedges where the ground sees no sun at this time of year. One of the sites was in stark contrast to the others, because all that remains is one slab and a small upright. I'm not sure what was more saddening: the poor state of this monument or the fact that the young farmer we asked about its whereabouts didn't know it was anything other than a couple of stones in the field.

The sun was so bright and so low that it was hard to take photos at times due to the harsh shadows it cast. Anyway, that doesn't really matter when you're out and about with good company!

February 14, 2010: Adding A New Dimension - 16 Sites

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This week I set out to visit some new places and some I had previously visited. The reason for the planned revisits was to go to monuments that I thought would look good in 3D. Yes, 3D! I've bought one of Fuji's new 3D cameras and although I won't be able to share the proper 3D images with you all I will be putting up some [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaglyph_image"]anaglyph images[/url] for you all. So, it's time to go back to the 80s, get out those blue and red glasses and start seeing things in 3D. As soon as the images are up on megalithomania I will add a new section to the home page and there'll be a new section on the site pages. 3D glasses will be available from my shop.

Talking of the shop: I've mentioned t-shirts in the past. Well, I've got two designs ready that I'll be adding to the shop soon, too. There will be more on the way later on.

Back to the trip. Myself and my daughter visited sites in Kildare, Carlow and Wexford, basically doing a small circuit around Mount Leinster. We had planned a couple of Wicklow sites on the way home, but we couldn't keep ahead of the rain.

We tried to visit a portal tomb I've not been to, but thoroughbred horses and no owner at home stopped us. I'll be back there though, as I have contact information now. The main site of the day was St. Mullins. What a great place it is. There's so much to see: a holy well, a high cross, churches, a motte and bailey, more churches and a lovely little high cross. If you go in season there's a visitor centre, too.

February 07, 2010: Is Curragh Irish for fog? - 29 Sites

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Seriously! My last trip was to the Curragh where I encountered thick fog. Today I went to the Little Curragh where I encountered thin fog. Curragh = thick fog and Little Curragh = thin fog.

Unlike my last trip I was able to walk about today and find barrows. Wow! The barrows here are amazing. I don't know of anywhere else in Ireland where you can walk amongst so many barrows. My walk only lasted about 2 hours and I visited over 10 barrows!

I actually think that some of these barrows need reassessing, beacuse at least 2 of them have causewayed entrances on the west side. Should these be reclassified as henges? Around one of these larger barrows I came across several small barrows, which helped bump the numbers up quite quickly.

One of the most spectacular monuments I saw was a barrow that is so big it has 2 golf course greens inside its outer banks. Between the two greens within this 50m embanked area is a central barrow that has at least three more banks and ditches around it!

On the way back to the car I came across something that I've never heard mention of before. I am sure that the Curragh/Little Curragh has been thoroughly studied so can I have found something new. I certainly hope so, but I probably haven't. Either way, a dead straight line of at least 8 small barrows is a pretty amazing thing to stumble across. What makes it more wonderful is that the alignment is southwest/northeast.

If anyone out there knows the Curragh area really well from an archaeological angle please contact me. I need to know whether I've found something new here. Titles of existing publications or papers that mention this feature would be welcome, too.

January 24, 2010: The Fog On The Curragh Is Mine All Mine - 34 Sites

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The day started with having to make a trip to Dalkey, Dublin. While in the area I stopped at Kill Of The Grange (County Dublin). It's very close to home and I haven't been to it for over seven years.

Then my trip began properly and I set off for the Curragh in County Kildare. As I got closer the fog got thicker. Not a promising start. It didn't end too well either, because the fog never cleared. The purpose of my trip was to hunt down some barrows on The Curragh and The Little Curragh. I just about managed to find one, but was forced to give up.

Not wanting to go straight home I went into Kildare to see the round tower up close. I knew I wouldn't be able to go inside at this time of year, but I wanted to get a bit closer than on my previous attempt. I also wanted to see St. Brigit's Firehouse, St. Brigit's Kitchen and the high cross. The latter means that I will have completed my first goal for this year when I complete the entry.

Now, some news for megalithomania.com. I now have some forums (fora?). Just use the link on the left and come and join us. Registration is free. There's even a photo gallery available for members to upload their own photos.

January 09, 2010: The First Of The Year - And It's A Snowy One - 39 Sites

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I simply had to get out after seeing Ken Williams' photos of Haroldstown (County Carlow) on [url="http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/post/82246/haroldstown.html"]The Modern Antiquarian[/url]. A dolmen in the snow is a great thing to get to. Sadly, it started snowing heavily this morning, so a trip to Haroldstown was out of the question.

I decided to do something I've never done before: make exactly the same trip two outings in a row. So, back to Glendruid (County Dublin), Tully Church (County Dublin) and Laughlanstown (County Dublin) it was. Now I know the new simple way of getting to Glendruid it was easy, although today I parked at the farm at the bottom of the lane to Tully Church and walked all the way.

It's so good to get out again. I've been at home all last week catching up on some long overdue holiday time and haven't been able to use it. The snow for tomorrow looks like it'll be heavy, so I'll not be able to get out then.

December 31, 2009: One Last Trip For 2009 - 42 Sites

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

So, 2009 is drawing to a close and 2010 is just a day away. I will be heading out in the New Year - I usually try to get out on New Year's Day itself - to see some new sites. This will be the start of my attempt to reach as many of my targets for 2010 as possible. I will soon add a new page to the lefthand menu so that people can keep track of my efforts to fulfill my wish list over the year.

The list is nearly complete with some simple tasks that I can do in the weeks that I don't go out and others that will require a lot of planning to achieve, such as visiting [i]all[/i] Ireland's portal tombs.

Anyway, back to today. I had intended to head down into Carlow, but after waking up very early this morning and failing to get back to sleep again I decided to do a bit of tidying up - my desk and office is a mess! I have a lot of books and excavation reports to catalog and I need to make plans for next year. Staying at home and getting this done seemed like a sensible move.

By 1 o'clock I was going a little stir crazy, so I decided to head out and see what effect the new Luas line construction is having or will finally have on Glendruid (County Dublin), my local portal tomb. The old route is now blocked, so I tried via the lane to Tully Church (County Dublin). The Luas line crosses this so accessing the track to attempt to reach the stream seemed likely. It's good news for megalith lovers! Glendruid portal tomb will soon have its very own Luas stop. Fantastic! It will be very easy to get off at this stop and walk along the stream to reach the monument. I'd like to know why Brenanstown station is sunken, though. Is it just to hide it so that a few local people can't see it? This sinking of the station means that the track goes down to the station, through a tunnel and then climbs back out to ground level again. What an expense! What a waste of tax payers money!

Anyway, enough ranting. While I was in the area I continued up to Tully Church to see the cross and to just enjoy the spot. The site, which is very special is now trapped by the Luas to the east and the motorway to the west. It used to be trapped by the sea and the mountains.

December 06, 2009: Out Again At Last - 44 Sites

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

So, November 2009 became only the second month in 8 years that I haven't been out to visit a monument. I have to admit that I was very tempted on the last day of the month to walk up the road to see my local standing stone, but I resisted. I'm working too much lately and the point needed making to myself as much as anyone.

For a long time now I've wanted to get to the cairn on the top of Seefingan Mountain. I've seen it from Seehan and Seefin, but I've never actually made it to the top of the mountain itself. Today was the perfect opportunity, so I parked by the Kippure Adventure Centre and set off up the hill. What a hill!!! Even though I was heading straight up the slopes I still got a little lost and took a slightly longer route that I'd planned.

When I arrived at the top I was rewarded with fine views over Kildare and south across the Wicklow Mountains. You can see over Dublin from up there and Howth and Lambay are very visible. I always feel close to home when I can make out Howth or Lambay. The cairn is an impressive one, but not as impressive as Seefin, where I headed next. I'm sure Seefingan has a passage tomb inside, but having access to the passage at Seefin makes it a special place.

I saw three walkers at Seefingan and one man and his dog at Seefin. The latter was not dressed for being on top of a mountain. On my way down I fell down a hole and hurt my leg. Luckily nothing was broken, but at least I had survival stuff in my backpack if I had been in trouble. Some people are so stupid. You may be just a few miles from home, but on a barren hillside exposure is a serious threat. Dress sensibly when heading into the mountains.

October 17, 2009: Wet And Wild In Northern Ireland - 52 Sites

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:00:00 +0000

This weekend my daughter wanted to come out with me and get some experience of photographing something other than people (which she is quite amazing at!) After looking at the weather forecast it looked as if going north was the best plan, so I planned a trip to some portal tombs, a sweat house and some court tombs to bring in some variety. For a finale I scheduled a stop off at Beaghmore! Everyone should be forced to visit Beaghmore!

How wrong was Saturday's forecast for Sunday? Very, very wrong! It rained all day. Still, se soldiered on and tried our best. Lyzzi wanted to do some landscape photography, too, but we couldn't see anything past the edge of whichever field we were in all day long.

As well as revisiting some good photographic sites, I managed to fit in two new sites - a court tomb and a wedge tomb.

The weather didn't even come close to ruining a great day out with my daughter, though. How could it?

September 12, 2009: Mayo: A Wide Variety of Monuments in a Day - 64 Sites

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Recent images of sites that I haven't yet visited in the Burren, County Clare almost set me off on a trip to see them, but I decided to stay focused and head back to Mayo for my next book - [i][b]Monu-Mental About Prehistoric Mayo[/b][/i]. I'm so happy that I did. The weather was stunningly good and my route took me to some wonderful monuments, as well as a couple of sad-looking battered ones.

The sites included a holy well, an ogham stone, a bullaun stone, a court tomb, a stone circle, two wedge tombs and some portal tombs. What a variety!

This trip highlighted the need to get the townland correct when recording sites. two of the sites I turned up at I had already visited, but had got the townland wrong. I first visited these some time ago and took the nearest townland from the OS map when adding the sites to [i]megalithomania[/i]. I'll correct these as I'm making entries for this trip.

One of the portal tombs has some decoration in the form of a partial ring of cup-marks: an arrangement that can't be natural. Decoration on a portal tomb is exceedingly rare. The bullaun stone is a triple-basined beauty; the court tomb is rather nice, but not a stunner by any means; one of the portal tombs is remote, rarely visited and very nice; the wedge tombs were both ruinous (one much more so than the other, though); and the stone circle was a bonus: I didn't expect there to be any remains left, to be honest.

Mayo is looking good, but there's so much amazing stuff there, and I keep coming across more great monuments. It's hard to know if I'll manage to get around all the sites and fit them into a book, but I'll try.

I'd like to say thanks to all the people who've contacted me through my [url="http://www.megalithomania.com/contact"]Contact Page[/url] recently with information about sites I haven't visited yet. I do enjoy seeing the images and putting them on my list of places to visit one day.

August 29, 2009: A Quick Trip To Two Sites - 66 Sites

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0000

At the moment I am spending a lot of time adding little bits to this website, so time for trips out has been limited. I am also building a wildlife pond in the garden, which has also had an impact. It was for this purpose that I headed to Brittas to get some pond plants (I got a few marginals and a water lily). On the way I decided to revisit the stone pair at Boherboy (County Dublin) and on the way back I stopped off at the ring barrow at Belgard Deer Park (County Dublin). That last time I was here was when I was researching my first book - [i][b]Monu-Mental About Prehistoric Dublin[/b][/i] - and the weather was foul. Back in 2002 when I first visited this place the weather was also rotten, but today it was beautiful.

August 10, 2009: Why Is Kerry Always Wet? - Day 3 - 67 Sites

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Finally it was time to pack the tent away and head towards Killarney and the comfort of one night in a nice hotel. Once again we were staying at the Lake Hotel - very nice.

The weather was looking unpredicatable, so we didn't know how many places we'd get to. The one place that I did want to take Uta to see was the rock art at Staigue Bridge (County Kerry), but the stream was running very quickly and was quite deep after all the recent rain.

In the end we only went to Staigue Fort. After the cashels we'd been to early in the week Staigue is a bit of a disappointment. It's not nicely renovated, but it's not a wonderful ruin. It's a bit stuck in the middle, really.

August 09, 2009: Why Is Kerry Always Wet? - Day 2 - 74 Sites

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0000

After a night of unprecedented downpour, mud baths and much-wiping-clean-of-groundsheets we awoke to a lovely morning. The rain had blown over and headed for Cork. We were heading for some nice sites around Cahershiveen, but we weren't sure which ones yet. The overnight rain deterred us from climbing too much.

In the end we settled on an ogham stone, a couple of cashels that are on the tourist track and a remote early Christian site - possibly the earliest such dated site in Ireland at 6th Century ... that's before Patrick! In the same townland, Cahernihillen, there are also two wedge tombs, a cashel and several hut sites. We managed to visit one of the tombs and two of the hut sites, while viewing the ruined cashel from afar.

The main appeal of Cahernillen is its main attraction - two glorious cross slabs. One is a slender affair with a cross and circular motif, while the other is stubby one with a false-relief cross and a peacock, signifying the Glory of Christ.

We had tried to visit another wedge tomb at the start of the day, but when we parked a thick sea mist rolled in and we couldn't even see the side of the parking spot! Not good circumstances to walk up to a tomb on a slippery hillside. I will be back to visit this site soon, though, as it is a stunner.

August 08, 2009: Why Is Kerry Always Wet? - Day 1 - 80 Sites

Sat, 08 Aug 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Myself and Uta decided that we'd head for The Ring of Kerry for our holiday this year. A short break of just 5 days was all we could manage to coordinate due to our individual commitments. We camped at Wave Crest camp site just outside Caherdaniel - a very nice (if a little pricey) campsite.

On the Saturday we set up camp and lazed around for a while. Today we headed for Derrynablaha. Yes, back to that amazing valley again. Ken Williams had recently located some more carved stones that we'd been looking for ... just 50m from a panel we'd both visited quite frequently!

We visited a couple of panels down in the valley and climbed up to the main panel before climbing up to hunt for the 'new' ones. These are in a cluster of four that I'll split into two groups. As we climbed the weather was starting to turn nasty and I rushed my pictures of three of the panels - they aren't brilliant. Of the fourth I have some nice shots. The three that didn't turn out well are very eroded and need a lot of patience to catch well.

I had hoped to visit a lot more today, but the weather became atrocious mid afternoon and continued throughout the night. I was digging trenches to divert the water from our tent before retiring. We went to bed not knowing what tomorrow would bring weatherwise and knowing that my plans for visiting sites was now completely messed up.

July 25, 2009: Four Waterfalls And A Monument - 82 Sites

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Today I was around Glenmalure, an area of the Wicklow Mountains just south of Laragh & Glendalough. The prime reason for my visit was to go to to the cup-marked panel at Fananierin - not a spectacular stone, but it is in a wonderful location and is quite easy to access from the road. Reaching that bit of road, however, is a pain.

After visiting Fananierin I went up Glenmalure to look for a bullaun stone with no luck, but I did meet a local farmer who told me a few things about the valley and was very helpful. Having had no luck finding the bullaun stone I spent the rest of my day visiting some of the waterfalls that cascade down the valley sides. There are loads of them! Glenmalure has to be one of the best spots in Ireland (but don't tell anyone!)

July 04, 2009: Four Go Mad In Limerick - 92 Sites

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:00:00 +0000

For a while now a group of us have talked about meeting up and seeing some sites and having a generally geeky day at the stones. Two of us are from Dublin, while the others hail from Tipperary and deepest, darkest Cork, so we had to find a spot we could all reach 'easily'. It was decided to meet up at Grange Lios (County Limerick) a site I last visited over seven years ago!

We all arrived on time and had a chat for a while before heading off on our site-seeing trip. After stopping at the wedge tomb, we parked at the Lough Gur centre and went for a walk across Knockadoon. This hill was once an island in the centre of the lough and was ideal for settlement. Easy to defend and with the lough for rescources settling here was an obvious choice.

After this we went to the monuments known as Circle O & Circle P at Lough Gur. Wow, what a strange pair of sites. Here we had a close encounter with a big red bull and I twisted my knee. This caused me to leave early and head home, leaving the others to visit some more monuments. From their reports they had a great time while I was driving back to Dublin.

All-in-all, myself, Andy, Derek and Gordon had a great day. Derek arranged a great itinery. I'm looking forward to next year's meet up already. I wonder where it will be.

June 05, 2009: Up A Wicklow Peak With New Discoveries - 95 Sites

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 23:00:00 +0000

For some time now I've wanted to visit the non-cairn on top of Prince William's Seat above Enniskerry. Why a 'non-cairn'? Because there's a cairn marked on the OS map, but no signs of it now.

The walk from the Wicklow Way car park is a relatively easy one. The first section is a compacted hardcore track that goes through a cleared pine plantation. The Wicklow Way leaves this then and climbs the hill via what almost a staircase made of boulders. This section is one of the nicest bits of the Wicklow Way that I've been on and makes the climb up Prince William's Seat quite easy. Once at the top of this climb the Wicklow Way continues over to Glencullen and a path goes off to the left to the top of the mountain.

To the right at this point there is a path to Ravens Rock - two granite outcrops - which is where I discovered two standing stones that I haven't seen recorded anywhere. I didn't take the path up to the top of Prince William's Seat, but scrambled through the heather to check out some large rocks I could see. Several of these also appear to be standing stones. More interestingly several of them seem to be in a line that points firstly to Ravens Rock and then on to The Great Sugar Loaf Mountain! This could be an alignment worth checking out when I can work out the right time of year.

May 31, 2009: Achill Island and Mayo - Part 3 of 3 - 99 Sites

Sun, 31 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Bank Holiday Monday and it's time to head home. I packed up the tent very early and set off to leave Achill and see a few sites close by before driving home around lunchtime.

The first sites I went to were megalithic tombs - a great court tomb and a portal tomb. After these I went to Kildun to see the cross pillar. On the way home I stopped at Turlough round tower again. The court tomb was on my list to see after the portal tomb, but I approached the portal from the wrong direction and a farmer sent me to the court tomb when I asked for directions. It seems that the court tomb is more widely known in the area. To reach the portal at Claggan you have to go through the grounds of Rock House (I thought a local said The Block House!) even though it is not on their land. The caretaker here is very friendly and many people seem to visit. They keep a lot of dogs, so approach with caution.

At this time of year the west coast of Mayo is a riot of pinky-purple, because there are rhododendrons everywhere! They are in almost plague proportions. With the easing off of farming in these areas they will soon overcome the whole of this area. Achill Island is also seemingly covered in them. These are all very pretty, but surely they are endangering the local species.

May 30, 2009: Achill Island and Mayo - Part 2 of 3 - 103 Sites

Sat, 30 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000

If you look at the OS map covering Achill Island (sheet 30) you will see a megalithic tomb marked on the very north side of the island. You will also see that no roads go anywhere near it and that the only way to it is over a mountain. Guess where I wanted to go today!

First, however, I had some other monuments to look for. Two of these took me to Keem Beach at the extreme west of the island. What a beautiful, beautiful little cove. The drive to it is a bit hairy, mind, but the end of your journey is worth the effort. Up above the beach is the coastguard station and there are several monuments marked in the valley behind this. Sadly, many of them are gone. Only pieces of a mass rock remain now: at least one standing stone has been destroyed here.

To reach the tomb beyond the mountain I chose to walk from Lough Acorrymore, a glacial lake (a corry) that would drop easily into Snowdonia in Wales. This was the second beautiful spot I spent some time at today.

After talking to some people at the lough I left my GPS on the roof of my car and set off on my 5km walk. Yes, I really did leave my GPS on the roof of my car. Credit has to go to all the people who visited the lough while I was walking, and it's a busy place, because the GPS was still there when I returned! The heat of the sun was overpowering and the 2L of drink I had with me wasn't really enough for this tough walk.

Once over the other side of the hill I was at Lough Nakeeroge - the third beautiful place I spent some time today. This lough is located just yards from the coast and will one day disappear as the sea erodes the thin slither of rock that keeps the lough back.

As well as the portal tomb I wanted to visit I found a wedge tomb, a possible stone circle and a group of clochans - presumably an old booleying settlement as the land here is lush and fertile.

May 29, 2009: Achill Island and Mayo - Part 1 of 3 - 108 Sites

Fri, 29 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000

What a glorious weekend! The drive across to Achill Island was a sunny one, but Saturday's weather was a bit hazy on the island, seriously limiting the views from the sites I visited. It wasn't raining and t was very warm, though. Nothing to stop me revisiting sites and hunting out new ones.

I had identified over 30 potential sites on Achill alone to visit, but I knew that many of these would either be gone or unidentifiable in the peat bogs. Some of them are very remote, but these would wait until Sunday.

Today I set up the tent nice and early and then set off to scour the slopes of Slievemor for signs of up to 15 sites. Many of them are now not visible due to gorse or peat cover. I did find a couple of interesting ones, though.

I also revisited the famine village where the notice board mentions a large quartz block on the hillside that is known as 'The Star'. Lovely! This marks the start of the good booley-ing land and a bohereen runs from the village up the slopes towards it. Along this roadway there are many quartz blocks - three of which look like a stone row to me. The notice board also mentions a large boulder at the start of the road with 'Naturalistic carvings on its northeast face'. What on earth does that mean? I couldn't see any markings on it, but I did see a wheatear - a lovely bird.

May 03, 2009: Another Wicklow Bullaun Hunt - 111 Sites

Sun, 03 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000

I've recently been corresponding with David about bullaun stones. He has been studying them for his Ph.D. (which is a great subject to take on in my book!) and is one of the few people who has seen more bullaun stones than me. He was kind enough to send me some info on Wicklow bullaun stones and after going through it I saw that he had managed to find several that I haven't yet found. There was only one thing for it ... I would have to head out and try to find them again.

I did manage to locate two that had eluded me and I went back to see one that was guarded by a randy bull when I went to see it before. There were two stones that I didn't manage to locate - a small one at Castletimon and a six-bullaun one at Kilmacoo. The Castletimon one has almost certainly been taken by someone. The Kilmacoo stone, reportedly along with a few others at the site, is now under a thick sea of brambles.

Apart from the bullaun stones I did find, the highlight of the day was seeing a sparrowhawk not far from Kilmacoo.

May 02, 2009: A Nice Walk At The Lakes - 112 Sites

Sat, 02 May 2009 23:00:00 +0000

My mum came over to see her new great grandson and she likes a nice, gentle walk, so we went to Glendalough for the day. It was also a good excuse to try out my new lens on a variety of subjects: landscapes, monuments and general scenery.

We parked at the gatehouse and walked through the monastic centre and then up to the top lake and to Reefert Church. It was a bit overcast and quite windy in places along the path, but it was a lovely day and a chance to talk to my mum. Great scenery and a walk with your mum who you don't see enough of. What can be better?

April 18, 2009: Four Bullauns And A Pub (And Some More Bullauns) - 122 Sites

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Recently a friend, Andy Ryan, stopped at The Moone High Cross pub in Kildare and had a meal. Whilst sitting outside he noticed a large boulder by the door that was being used as an ashtray. Looking closer he realised that it was a bullaun stone. Then he noticed another stone over the road - surely it couldn't be. Oh yes ... another bullaun stone. Speaking to the landlady he learnt that there were two more in one of the beer gardens. Wow. Four, previously unrecorded, bullaun stones. Great spot Andy. Obviously, as soon as I heard about them I had to go and see them.

Speaking to the landlord myself I learnt that the two outside the front came from somewhere near Castledermot, while the other two were more local. Amazing. It could be that it was religious practice at these four stones that attracted early Christians to Moone and Castledermot.

As well as these four bullauns I went to see two others: one at a well and one in a great roadside position. On the way home I stopped at the Mullamast Longstone and rath and Old Kilcullen church yard to take advantage of the amazing light.

April 11, 2009: Boleycarrigeen Cleared At Last - 124 Sites

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

For many, many years we have waited for Boleycarrigeen stone circle in Wicklow to be released from the pine plantation that has surrounded it for so many years. Not too long ago this finally happened. I couldn't wait to get down there and check out the views. It was not a disappointment!

Take the time to visit the site now. I know it will take a while for the replanted plantation to block the views again, but the place is so wonderful now it's exposed. If you've been there before you will be amazed at how big the monument it. The overhanging trees made the circle feel so small, but it's not.

I hope they don't replant so close that the trees block the views from the circle again. This is a site that simply made to be sat at by people who want great views.

April 04, 2009: No Hangover, So I Can Visit Some Sites In Mayo - 132 Sites

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

I'd spent the night in a Sligo hotel after a get together with the crowd I'd visited Malta with in February. I was careful not to indulge too much as I'd made plans to visit Achill Island for the day. Although I had not taken too much alcohol I hadn't managed to retire early, so I decided that I was too tired for such a long drive. North Mayo was the simpler option.

I had made a list of sites that I'd either half-visited or had never managed to visit and set off. On my list were two ruined portal tombs and a selection of court tombs. One of these court tombs is one of only two or three with its layout and another of them is buried in a peat bog. I didn't hold out much hope of finding the latter, as these are very difficult to find. However, I did find it!

While I was looking to find one site a farmer told me of Polladarky , a natural wonder that I just had to go and see for myself (it can be seen on OS map 23 at G 068 410). This is a large 'pot' some 40m deep and at least 75m across into which the sea rushes through a small archway. Obviously, this was at one time a cave whose roof fell in. To stand near to the (but not too near) and watch the sea churn through the opening is a sight I'll not forget. This has to be one of Ireland's best kept natural secrets!

April 03, 2009: Finally - I Manage To Get Out And About - 136 Sites

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

March 2009 was the first month in 8 years that I did not manage to go out and see a site. This was due to work pressures and (much more importantly) becoming a grandfather!!!! Welcome to this crazy, mixed up world Aaron. I hope it sorts itself out before you know what's going on.

I was lucky enough to go on a trip to Malta in February with a group from Sligo IT. We had a great time there - something it's not hard to do if you're interested in Neolithic remains. Watch out for a few pages on this trip in my Beyond These Shores section soon. I say 'soon', but I still have a trip to Spain to write up and that's from a very long time ago. I will endeavor to get these written up ASAP.

Today's trip took me to Sligo. The excuse was to meet up with the group that I went to Malta with and have a few pints. It was great to see them all again. I also met (or re-met in some cases) some Dublin-based archaeologists.

For many years I've looked at Kesh Mountain and wanted to climb it. The cairn on the top looks massive from afar and there's the caves on the slopes below, too. On one of the adjacent hillocks there is also a cruciform passage tomb that I've always wanted to get to. So, today I had no excuse. I'll not be going up Kesh again! It's a steep old walk. Apparently, I went the hard way, which is up from the caves.

The cairn has tremendous views. While I was on top of this hill Ken Williams was in Carrowkeel across the valley looking at Cairn B and forgetting his tripod. Myself and Ken met up later for a bite to eat and then went off to see a very, very strange court tomb overshadowed by Benbulben and overlooking Sligo Bay.

The evening went well with much drinking of pints and talk of old stones. I had an early night, because the morning after I was heading for County Mayo. Yes, work on the next book, [b][i]Monu-Mental About Prehistoric Mayo[/i][/b] has begun in earnest.