Megalithomania - Trip Blog

July 24, 2010: The Megalithomania Meet-Up 2010 : Rath Croghan - 8 Sites

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The people from the megalithomania forums (plus a few others) met up to get to know each other and explore the amazing monuments that make up the Rath Croghan complex in County Roscommon. Not everyone could attend, but 10 of us braved the early rain and were rewarded with a fine day amongst good people and great monuments. I don't think any of us truly expected all the sites to be so good.

We met for an initial coffee and chat at the Cruachan Ai visitor centre in Tulsk and set off to Rath Croghan itself, the massive mound along side the road. While we were here it was raining, but we still enjoyed a walk and a chat. From there we moved on to Rath Mor, the inaugural mound and then to Rath Beg, a large roadside stepped barrow.

A short distance down the road we saw what must be Ireland's largest barrow - 85m in diameter - You could fit Newgrange into that! That's big! From there we went to Oweynagat, a site that is difficult to find, but worth the effort. This is a souterrain that leads into a cave, which is said to link to Kesh mountain in Sligo. A mythical boar is said to have erupted from here and created the earthworks in the surrounding fields with his tusks. Not all of us made it into the cave, but those that did really enjoyed themselves and got very, very muddy!

The next stop was to be Daithi's Stone, a standing stone set on top of a mound. We got close, but the presence of a very large bull in the field stopped us at the gate. Between Oweynagat and Daithi's Stone we came across a large enclosure with a souterrain inside it.

Although there is much more to see at Rath Croghan it was now getting late and we decided it was time to return to Crauchan Ai for more coffee and a chat before going our separate ways.

Many thanks to all those that attended for making the day so special. I think it's Sligo for the next one.

July 11, 2010: A Day At Some Carlow Castles And Other Sites - 14 Sites

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0100

I had recently seen a castle on this page on the internet: http://www.thestandingstone.ie/2010/01/ballymoon-castle-co-carlow.html - a great site run by [i]TheStandingStone[/i] from the megalithomania.com forums. Wow! What a place ... and it's free to visit, too. There is also a comment on that page recommending Ballyloughlan Castle, so these were my targets for the day.

Before visiting the castles I went to Nurney, near Leighlinbridge, to see the two crosses there. For some reason I had got my bearings wrong when I entered the village and it took me ages to find the crosses.

Ballymoon castle is a strange one; a large, semi-ruined or unfinished, square court yard castle, not a towerhouse. Much of the nice stonework has gone, but there are still traces of the finery that this building once had. It's a great place for walk around and explore, with chambers in the walls and a fine view of Mount Leinster.

Ballyloughlan castle has a fine gatehouse, a fairly well-preserved corner tower and a ruined corner tower. These three buildings stand alone in the field: the walls that joined them up have been taken away, presumably to build the large ruined farm complex at the top of a nearby field.

As I was driving back I came across signposts to Rathnagerragh Castle. Following these brought me to a relatively disappointing ruin.

After all this 'modern' stuff I had to visit something a bit more megalithic. To free myself from the feelings of guilt that I was experiencing about enjoying visits to to the such modern structures I went to Castleruddery Lower stone circle. It's a bit over grown at this time of year and the sheep in the field seem to be staying out of the stones.

June 20, 2010: Inishmurray Here I come ... Oh Yes I Do! - 24 Sites

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

This is it. Finally I am going to get to Inishmurray. Conor Hill needed to take core samples for his research and a boat had been chartered. Thorsten & Tatjana invited me along to make up the numbers, and we were joined by Ruth, Maria, Jean and four tourists to bring the cost of the boat charter down.

The journey from Rosses Point to Inishmurray takes about 1 hour 40 minutes and we were blessed with calm waters. We didn't get any dolphins on the way, but we did see many seabirds, including 2 puffins. Along the journey Tatjana, who knows Sligo so well, pointed out lots of interesting sites and landscape features to us.

Landing at Inishmurray is interesting. There is no constructed quay, but the square-edged rocks do form a natural harbour on the south side of the island, just below the deserted village. We didn't have the island to ourselves for long, as several charter and private boats came along throughout the day.

Inishmurray is best known for its early Christian monastery, which is located inside a cashel. Inside there are churches, a beehive hut, cross slabs and leachts or altars. Many of the cross slabs from the island have been removed for safety and some replicas are being made to replace them [i]in situ[/i].

It's so hard to say what my favourite part of the visit was. The cross slabs that remain are beautiful. The semi-ruined sweathouse is cute. The cashel and its enclosed monuments are fantastic and must be the best part, although the island itself is simply a great place to be. I will definitely revisit here in a few years time, hopefully to see the replica cross slabs in place.

I have been trying to get out here for years and, for various reasons, have never managed to sort it out. I owe Thorsten and Tatjana a big favour! Thanks for inviting me.

June 19, 2010: Time To Visit Some Sligo Tombs - 37 Sites

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Sligo has too much to offer. It amazes me that there is more stuff being discovered there all the time. The monuments I went to today are not new discoveries, although one of them is a surprising recent rediscovery, and the evening ended with what I believe is a new Summer Solstice observation.

The plan for the day was to visit some of the tombs I haven't yet visited and spend the evening at Carrowkeel watching the sun set through the lightbox in Cairn G. The weather was perfect for this for the first time in many years. I managed to get some good photos of the start of the event, but missed the final moments when it's at its most spectacular. I wondered off to give the many other people chance to enjoy it and got back to the tomb a few minutes too late to see it. After seeing a photograph taken by someone inside I was a bit miffed. Oh well. There'll be other years. I had actually gone off to visit Cairn M - one I'd not been to yet. While here I saw something that could be special.

During the day I visited five tombs - a portal tomb, three court tombs and a wedge tomb. One of the court tombs is very much a portal/court hybrid and if you removed several stones the remains would be interpreted as a portal tomb. The portal tomb I visited has been missing for a long time. What? Well, it was reported as destroyed and everyone assumed that it was gone completely. Even the recent Archaeological Survey missed it. Then Tatjana Kytmannow visited the site whilst preparing her PhD and was surprised to find the fallen remains of this once lovely portal tomb.

This was a good day out and the weekend was due to continue with a boat trip out to Inishmurray the day after ...

June 06, 2010: A Very Quick Trip To Inishmore - And About Time, Too - 41 Sites

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

How has it taken me so long to get out to one of the Aran Islands? I can't really answer that question, but what I can say is that, now that I have been there I'll be back sooner rather than later!

Uta and myself went away for the Bank Holiday weekend to Galway. We camped near Roundstone and went to Kylemore Abbey on the Saturday to see the wonderful Victorian walled garden and the house itself. The entrance fee was a bit expensive, but we had a good time (between the rain storms).

We took the 10:30am ferry to Inishmore from Rossaveal and returned on the 5:00pm ferry. We're not at all fit, so hiring bikes to tour the island on didn't seem such a clever idea. Instead we joined one of the minibus tours for 10 euro each. This took us to several places and gave us a tour of the island to get a feel for it for the next time we visit. Our driver was Rory, a nice bloke with a good knowledge of the island.

The next time I go to the islands I'll be staying for at least two days so that I can see all the stuff I didn't manage to see on such a short trip. The island might be small, but there's so much of interest there that you probably need a full week!

May 15, 2010: Inishmurray Here I Come ... Oh No I Don't - 44 Sites

Sat, 15 May 2010 00:00:00 +0100

I had been invited to join a boat trip to Inishmurray off the Sligo coast to see the wonderful early monastery there, so I drove up to Sligo and camped at Rosses Point on Friday night and waited to hear if the weather was going to be kind. Sadly, the weather looked too bad and the boat trip was cancelled. We're going to try again in a few weeks time.

Luckily my hosts, Thorsten and Tatjana, had back-up plans and we headed off for Streedagh and Dernish Island instead. Tatjana is studying the archaeology of these two areas (among others) and has made some great discoveries, which she kindly showed me. She hasn't published these findings yet, so I can't tell you about them ... much sadness! However, when they are published I'll be back there and tell you all about them. I can post information on two standing stones and a fine wedge tomb, though.

I was going to stay another night and go to see some more monuments in the area and then head to north Mayo to do some research for my next book, [i]Monu-Mental About Prehistoric Mayo[/i], but the weather turned bad and I decided to gather up my tent and head home.

Tatjana wrote her Phd dissertation about Portal Tombs, so I got to talk about prehistoric monuments all day and got loads of tips about ones to visit, so I'll be back soon with a good list of tombs to see.

May 08, 2010: A Beautiful Half-Day Around Monaghan - 53 Sites

Sat, 08 May 2010 00:00:00 +0100

What a scorcher! What a wonderful day of sunshine! A few weeks ago I went to Monaghan and didn't get to some of the sites on my list, but today I returned and saw those sites and a few more. There really are some interesting megalithic tombs in the county. The ones I saw today don't all fall into that category, though.

The best of the bunch was the court tomb at Tiredigan, which has lost much of its court, but stands in a mighty cairn. This was closely followed in the 'nice sites' race by the tiny tomb at Radeery. The state of the monuments I saw doesn't really matter, though. Getting out and about on such a day is prize enough.

The first site I stopped at was the churchyard at Donagh. This churchyard is beautifully maintained and a pleasure to walk around. The buildings are very ruined, but the wheel cross and cross bases there are very nice.

With all this sun around I couldn't just come straight home so I took a detour and went to Monasterboice on the way back. I love that place. In the sunlight it's simply sublime and I was lucky to have the place practically to myself for most of my stay there.

April 25, 2010: Another Midlands Trip - 57 Sites

Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0100

After my last outing to Laois I decided that I'd go back. Well, I had actually planned to head for Roscommon, but I seem to have mislaid my OS map 33. It was a lovely day and I wasn't going to sit in the house again.

I didn't get to see much, but what I did see was really interesting. I managed to get to two cashels or stone forts, a very, very nice barrow and a ringfort. There are actually three cashels in Laois and I probably should have gone to all of them, but the third and best one will have to wait for another day.

The barrow is one of the finest I've seen to date. It has a huge ditch around it and the mound is over 3m high. It's only downside is the fact that it is covered and surrounded by trees, which hide it from view and block all of its views.

April 11, 2010: Another Midlands Barrow Cemetery - 66 Sites

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0100

A while ago I mentioned that I'd tried to look around the rest of the barrows at Great Heath in County Laois, but had not done so because they're dotted around a golf course and I don't fancy getting hit by a stray golf ball. After reviewing the maps and some aerial photographs of the area I saw that the all but one of the barrows are actually around the outside of the golf course and not actually on it.

One thing that the aerial photos showed was that many of the barrows appear to be in thick gorse cover, which makes finding them a bit awkward. Anyway, I thought I'd try anyway and I'm glad I did: only one of the barrows I went looking for was actually unreachable. The rest are all pretty much in the open, although many have their own gorse colonies. Several of the barrows have recently had the gorse bushes burnt off and a huge swathe of the Heath had also been cleared.

I managed to see two ringforts and seven barrows in just two hours. One of the ringforts is now used as a green on the Heath golf course and one of the barrows has been used as the 7th tee. There are still two barrows in the area that I have to see and I'll be back to do as soon as I can. The good thing is that, once I've add them to megalithomania.com, I'll have completed another of my [url="http://www.megalithomania.com/show/goals/index.htm"]goals for this year[/url] - 30 sites in Laois.

Another reason for wanting to go to this barrow cemetery was to test out how good barrows show up in 3-D pictures. They're notoriously difficult to convey in a photo unless the angle of the ligt is just right, but hopefully 3-D will help you see them better. I haven't looked at the pictures yet, so we'll have to wait and see!

March 17, 2010: A Day In The Burren - Enough Said? - 83 Sites

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Many of you will know Marianne through her posts in my guestbook and more recently her posts in the [url="http://www.megalithomania.com/forum"]megalithomania.com forums[/url]. Today I had the pleasure of being treated to a tour of a lot of monuments and was able to share her enthusiasm and passion for The Burren. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for me!

We started off revisiting an old favourite of mine - Templecronan (County Clare) - a beautiful early church tucked away in a small dell hidden from sight. We then went to the nearby well.

From there it was time for some tombs. Templecronan is not far from the tombs at Rannagh East & West. We went to what we thought was Rannagh East wedge tomb (actually it's in Termon townland), but decided to move on from there as Rannagh West could have taken a while to relocate in the thick hazel scrub.

The next group of sites was the incredible complex at Fanygalvan: two wedge tombs, a stone row, a cairn or two, hut circles and a chambered cairn with a tiny exposed cist. On the way up to this hilltop complex we found what may be a new boulder burial! From there we walked to a nearby cashel.

By now it was time for a late lunch. I'd already drank half of Marianne's coffee! We decided to head for Templeline, a lovely ruined church that would have been similar to Templecronan in its day: hidden away, but not quite so secretively.

Time for more tombs. Next was the diminutive wedge tomb at Coolnatullagh. Before we moved on to our final tombs we stopped at Tobar Fachtnan, one of the most unusual holy wells I've ever been to, which is surrounded by penitentiary cairns.

Now, how does this sound? It has been a very long day, so you decide to walk for over a mile across Burren limestone pavements? I don't know who's crazier, me or Marianne: she knew what was in store for her! However, I'm very grateful to her for doing so, because Eantymore wedge tomb is a sweet, yet quite ruined one. On the way we saw a souterrain. Unfortunately, I had left my GPS in her car, so I don't have exact coordinates for these.

We finished off at Poulaphuca (County Clare), a site I visited in 2002. Here we managed to find the nearby cist and spotted another small cairn a bit further away.

What an amazing day. I can't repeat enough what a pleasure it was! Thanks!

March 16, 2010: A Quick Trip To Laois - 86 Sites

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

I haven't been to many sites in Laois, but then there aren't many sites in Laois to go to. I had a quick look at the barrow cemetery at Great Heath, where I've been to one barrow, but the rest are spread across a golf course. I think this is one for early one Summer morning.

So, I set off to visit the Rock of Dunamase and a holy well and church. I've seen the castle on the Rock of Dunamase many times and often pondered its location as it looks to be surrounded by small hills. After sitting on the top with a flask of coffee for a while I started to see what the site is about and why it is actually so good for a castle.

The church wasn't as spectacular as I'd hoped, but someone is looking after the place and work appears to be going on to make it nice. The holy well, just down the road from the church, is a bit of a mess and needs tidying up and a bit of TLC. Perhaps it's just because it's winter (I know it's spring, but it feels like winter!) and it may get a bit of attention when the weather improves.

March 07, 2010: Several Tombs With Varying Degrees Of Preservation - 92 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 - 102 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? - 115 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 - 120 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 - 125 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 - 128 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 - 130 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 18, 2009: Wet And Wild In Northern Ireland - 138 Sites

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

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 13, 2009: Mayo: A Wide Variety of Monuments in a Day - 150 Sites

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

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 30, 2009: A Quick Trip To Two Sites - 152 Sites

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

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 11, 2009: Why Is Kerry Always Wet? - Day 3 - 153 Sites

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

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 10, 2009: Why Is Kerry Always Wet? - Day 2 - 160 Sites

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

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 09, 2009: Why Is Kerry Always Wet? - Day 1 - 166 Sites

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0100

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 26, 2009: Four Waterfalls And A Monument - 168 Sites

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0100

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!)