This was my thrid attempt at finding this site. The two previous times I had come from the north, which looks sensible from the map. However, this lovely 5-stone stone circle is tucked up against the south side of a wall so you have no hope of seeing it. Two large thorn trees are growing on the south side of the stones making it even harder to spot.
One of the portal stones has fallen, but still lies in situ. The axis of the circle is NE-SW with the axial stone at the southwest. Standing in the portal and looking over the axial stone you are aligned with a notch in the distant hills. The axial stone is almost square andthe other stones are only matched in height - about 1.2m.
There is a small (possible) outlier just 30m south of the circle next to which is a pile of stones, which may be field clearance or a mini cairn, but probably the former.
The official grid reference for this site is out by some 90m.
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. |