Visits For April, 2007
Sunday, 1st April 2007
More Bullauns Than You Can Shake a Stick At
I recently bought an article by the amazing, late Liam Price about the bullaun stones of Glendalough and surroundings. This included a rather good rough map of the area with the location of a lot of the stones marked on it. We soon discovered that the scale was a little out, but we soon got used to this. I had originally arranged to meet Andy at Glendalough last week, but illness and other commitments meant we had to postpone our foray until today.
It would have been nice to have done the stones in the order that Price gave them, but we decided it would be a little silly to do that - I will used Price's lettering system though, renaming the Glendalough/Brockagh stones that already appear on megalithomania.
I believe we can definitely say that the stones marked as O, L & N are no longer visiblle. We spent a long time looking for these. Also, the stone near to the forester's house by the top lake is no longer visible. One of today's stone's was discovered by Andy a few weeks ago and so doesn't have a number in Price's scheme; I'll give it the next letter and call it P.
I would seem that someone else has recently been around some of the stones, as a few of them looked as if they'd recently been cleared out. Others clearly hadn't been visited for quite some time. Several of the stones were in the river near to the gatepost, but we avoided getting wet. I'd left my new wellingtons in the car (silly!), so we had to do some silly rock-hopping.
In all we saw 22 ... yes 22! ... bullaun stones around Glendalough. We then stopped of at the three Ballinacorbeg stones to make it 25 in a day. Beat that!
I can now say that the most probable date for the megalithomania relaunch will be next Friday. The server will definitely be unavailable for a few hours that day anyway, so I'm trying my best to get everything ready in the new version for that day.
| Brockagh (Glendalough m) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 10 New Images |
| Brockagh (Glendalough d) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 2 New Images |
| Brockagh (Glendalough e) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 3 New Images |
| Brockagh (Glendalough c) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 3 New Images |
| The Seven Fonts (Glendalough a) - Brockagh (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 3 New Images |
| Brockagh (Glendalough b) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 1 New Image |
| Glendasan River (Glendalough i) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 3 New Images |
| Glendalough (f) - Sevenchurches or Camaderry (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 1 New Image |
| Glendasan River (Glendalough h) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 3 New Images |
| Glendasan River (Glendalough g) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 2 New Images |
| Sevenchurches or Camaderry (Glendalough k) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 4 New Images |
| Glendasan River (Glendalough p) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 2 New Images |
| Sevenchurches or Camaderry (Glendalough l) (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 3 New Images |
| Glendalough Cathedral - Sevenchurches or Camaderry (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 1 New Image |
| Glendalough (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 1 New Image |
| The Deer Stone (Glendalough D) - Derrybawn (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 1 New Image |
| Roundwood Graveyard II - Ballinacorbeg (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 1 New Image |
| Roundwood Graveyard III - Ballinacorbeg (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 1 New Image |
| Roundwood Graveyard I - Ballinacorbeg (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 1 New Image |
Friday, 6th April 2007
Glendruid Gets a Trim
Yesterday I got an email from my friend, Graham, saying that he'd been to Glendruid (County Dublin) and that it has had some recent attention. The ground immediately around the tomb has been cleared of weeds and the tree that was getting established behind the tomb has been chopped down.
I couldn't resist heading down there myself today to see how good it looks. It looks great. If they'd have bothered to clear the rest of the brambles on the south side of the monument it would be even better.
Graham also told me that the back route along the old railway track was blocked off due to Luas works, so I decided to see how bad this was for myself. The section along the top of the old trackway is fine. A lot of clearance has gone on along this bit. Once you are down by the river, however, it's a complete mess. There are felled trees everywhere, making it very difficult to pass some parts. The last 150m is perfectly clear, though.
| Glendruid - Brennanstown (Co. Dublin) | Portal Tomb | 8 New Images |
Sunday, 8th April 2007
Some More \'Lost\' Bullauns Rejoin The Fold
Today was one of those daye where you learn a lot, but find little. Not that I found nothing, but I did fail to find several monuments. The nice things about the ones I found is that one is not even mentioned in the Archaeological Inventory and another is mentioned, but wasn't found by the compilers.
These two monuments were bullaun stones. I also located a rath that Price described as being near to two double bullauns, but was unable to find the stones themselves. These are in Ballintombay Upper. The triple, roadside bullaun in Ballintombay Lower has definitely gone. It's possible that it is simply covered up with grass, as there are many stones lying along the roadside just under the grass.
The rock art recorded at Threewells has also gone. The farmer I spoke to knew nothing of it. However, the grid ref given for it does not match Liam Price's description of its location, but is a couple of hundred metres out. I had a mooch around where he describes it being, but found nothing.
I also went to check out whether Boleycarrigeen has been cleared yet, but it hasn't. Heading back from there I went to hunt for two more bullauns at Kilbeg and Templeboodin on the east side of the Poulaphuca Reservoir. Both of these are missing as far as I can tell, although the one at Kilbeg my be hidden in a nearby hedgerow.
You may have noticed that the promised revamp hasn't appeared yet. This is due to circumstances beyond my control, I'm afraid. The update to / is now scheduled for late Tuesday afternoon. This means that the website will be unavailable for most of Tuesday evening. If you're keen to see what it looks like then check around 10pm Irish time.
| St. Kevin's Cup - Meetings (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 3 New Images |
| Sleanaglogh (Co. Wicklow) | Bullaun Stone | 5 New Images |
| Tombeagh (Co. Carlow) | Standing Stone | 7 New Images |
| Kilbeg (Co. Wicklow) | Holy Well | 1 New Image |
Monday, 9th April 2007
A Change of Plans and a Pine Martin
My aim today was to go to Kerry, but last night I realised what an utterly stupid idea that would be on Bank Holiday Monday! It would just be too busy, so I decided to head north to Leitrim and Fermanagh. There's a whole heap of sites around the border area and this was as good a day as any to head up there and see them.
My original route took in a whole heap of bullaun stones (no surprises there really), but the first one took so long to find and was such hard going getting to it that I decided to miss out three nearby ones and head for some other sites on the list. I'll come back to these as soon as I can. While heading northwards from the first site to the next block I came across a pine martin jiggling about at the side of the road. I stopped the car and carefully got out to try and get my camera from the back of the car. The little so-and-so sat on a branch and watched me while I did this and then scurried off just as I lifted it to my eye. Perfect comic timing from the cheeky chappie.
The weather was on and off all day: bits of sunshine punctuating greyness and drizzle. Still, I made the best of it and saw some wonderful stuff. I got to a few bullauns, some tombs, some stone circles, som rock art and a very enigmatic site.
A fair chunk of the sites were at the Mountdrum Archaeological Complex. I first heard about this quite a while ago shortly after visiting the area. Back then there were 'just' some stone circles. Now there are three tombs to go with them. I seemed to have arrived at roughly the right time, as some of the monuments had just been cleared of gorse bushes. There are good signs and information boards, but I do have a few issues with some of these and I'll address these in the site entry. This does not matter though - hats off to the people responsible for setting up this area, but please ... place some signposts that point to it!
| Modorragh - Moddoragh (Co. Leitrim) | Bullaun Stone | 4 New Images |
| St Brigit's Stone - Termon or Killinagh (Co. Cavan) | Bullaun Stone | 4 New Images |
| Templenaffrin (Co. Fermanagh) | Bullaun Stone | 7 New Images |
| Templenaffrin (Co. Fermanagh) | Church | 5 New Images |
| Templerushin (Co. Fermanagh) | Bullaun Stone | 3 New Images |
| St. Patrick's Well - Templerushin (Co. Fermanagh) | Holy Well | 1 New Image |
| Kilrooskagh (Co. Fermanagh) | Portal Tomb | 4 New Images |
| Breagho (Co. Fermanagh) | Court Tomb | 6 New Images |
| Mountdrum Archaeological Complex (Co. Fermanagh) | Megalithic Complex | 1 New Image |
| Mountdrum (Co. Fermanagh) | Court Tomb | 2 New Images |
| Mountdrum (Co. Fermanagh) | Wedge Tomb | 4 New Images |
| Mountdrum (Co. Fermanagh) | Stone Circle | 2 New Images |
| Mountdrum (Co. Fermanagh) | Stone Circle | 1 New Image |
| Mountdrum (Co. Fermanagh) | Stone Circle | 1 New Image |
| Mountdrum (Co. Fermanagh) | Wedge Tomb | 1 New Image |
| The Doon Stones - Pubble (Co. Fermanagh) | Rock Art | 4 New Images |
Sunday, 15th April 2007
Whiskers On Kittens ...
Today was very much about my favourite things - bullaun stones and portal tombs. The quantity of bullauns still to be seen is huge and I'm looking forward to seeing many more this year. Hopefully, I can get to see all the really good multiple bullaun stones by the end of the year.
Portal tombs. It never ceases to amaze me how many more there are out there that still have their capstone in place and don't feature on the internet megalithic radar. I was very surprised to come across two today that are in amazing condition, even if a little neglected and over grown.
I think today's journay has taken me to my 150th portal tomb and added the 100th bullaun stone to /. Last week I added the 1750th site and this week will see the 7000th photgraph added.
There are some big figures there that I'm very proud of. I wonder if I can get to my 2000th site before 2008 starts. It's probably not something I should try for if I'm going to get two or three more books written and in the shops this year ... but I'll probably try anyway.
| Meelaghans (Co. Offaly) | Bullaun Stone | 5 New Images |
| Meelaghans II (Co. Offaly) | Bullaun Stone | 4 New Images |
| Cartronbane (Co. Longford) | Stone Circle | 7 New Images |
| Carrickacroy (Co. Cavan) | Portal Tomb | 4 New Images |
| Aghawee (Co. Cavan) | Portal Tomb | 5 New Images |
| Middletown (Co. Cavan) | Portal Tomb | 5 New Images |
| St. Patrick's Well - Farmullagh (Co. Longford) | Holy Well | 1 New Image |
| Cloone (Co. Leitrim) | Monastic Settlement | 6 New Images |
| Cloone (Co. Leitrim) | High Cross | 2 New Images |
| Annaghmore (Co. Leitrim) | Portal Tomb | 4 New Images |
Monday, 16th April 2007
It's Kiltiernan's Turn to Get a Haircut
Following the work done at Glendruid (County Dublin) recently to clear it, a friend went and checked to see if any work had been done at Kiltiernan Domain (County Dublin). It has. ALL the gorse around the tomb has been cut down for 40m either side of it and 4m or so behind it.
For the first time in my time visiting this site you can see the whole thing wondefully. Hopefully, whoever has cut the gorse will come back and remove the dead branches and burn them, so that the site is completely clear. A big thank you to whoever did this!
| Kiltiernan Domain (Co. Dublin) | Portal Tomb | 8 New Images |
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