What an adventure! Getting to this tall 5-stone stone circle is easy, especially if you use the gate, because it is just 50m from the road. We didn't spot the gate until later and so ended up going via some rough land and a ditch with a stream at the bottom. I had parked half off the road thinking a car could easily get past it, and being 10am on a Sunday morning I wasn't really expecting any traffic down this country lane anyway. However, just as I reached the circle (already soaking wet from the rain) a milk tanker rounded the corner! So, I run back to the car only to find that I've dropped my car keys somewhere! Was it in the field or the rough ground or in the stream while jumping over it? The truck driver was very patient and helped us look and eventually I found them in the field. Phew!
OK. The circle itself. One of the 1.6m tall entrance stones has fallen into the centre of the circle, but the other four stones are still standing proudly. A tree grows next to the remaining entrance stone.
The axial is a large one - 1.5m tall x 1.4m wide. Just to one side of this is, and on the outside of the circle, is a lovely large quartz boulder. What relationship this had with the circle, if any, is a mystery but many of the Cork multiple-stone circles have a central quartz stone. If this had occupied a central position within this circle then there would have been room for little else.
I want to go back here in good weather and take a look around properly.
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_All Sites Visited On 13th April 2003 « Previous Site Next Site »
Back again after just one week, but this time determined that nothing should go wrong. I managed to hold onto my keys this time!
This site is quite incredible. The south-west axis between the entrance stones and through the centre of the axial stone leads the eye straight to Carrigfadda, something I was unable to see last week in the torrential downpour we encountered. The nice weather didn't really change the gloomy nature of the site for me, though. The stones still seem very dull and lifeless - perhaps the huge quartz boulder's whiteness emphasises the greyness of the other stones.
I now believe that the quartz boulder was in fact an outlier that would have occupied a position along the axis in the direction of Carrigfadda. This is a conclusion that I was to arrive at later in the day at the lovely Knockraheen stone circle.
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_All Sites Visited On 20th April 2003 « Previous Site Next Site »
Another visit and I didn't lose my keys! The hay in the field had just been cut when we arrived so the circle looked as if it was in an island of long grasses and the bright sun really made the big quartz boulder shine.
This was Uta's first five-stone stone circle and there aren't many better introductions that are so easy to reach. The circle is now overlooked by three giant wind turbines to the northeast. I know many people don't like them but I love seeing them. To me they are a stark reminder of how we're screwing up the planet and large reminder of how small our efforts are to do something about it. Perhaps this is why people don't like them!
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_All Sites Visited On 9th July 2005 « Previous Site Next Site »
A Random Selection of Nearby Monuments
 Bellmount Upper - West (Co. Cork) |  Glashananinnaun (Co. Cork) |  Oughtihery (W) (Co. Cork) |
 Reananarree (Co. Cork) |  Knockraheen (Co. Cork) |  Mountdrum (Co. Fermanagh) |
