These five stones are known as 'The Six', which is confusing as you approach, but then you realise that one has, sadly, fallen. I was surprised at where these stones were. I had imagined them to be on a steep slope for some reason, I'm not sure why. I actually thought I'd have a lot to say about them because of this, but, to be honest, it's thrown me a bit. Nearby plantations hide the immediate terrain, but they actually stand on a low spur. The Boggeragh Mountains rise up to the west, the Nagles occupy the northeast horizon and the rest is very open.
The stones are all very different in shape and height. The tallest is over 6ft tall and the profile of one of them reminded me of a mini Long Meg (an outlier at a stone circle in Cumbria).
I though at first that the row pointed directly at Gowlane North (County Cork), but this is not the case.
This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |