Glasmullagh : Stone Circle
Visit Notes
Sunday, 14th November 2004
The townland of Cashty occupies the southern slopes of Bessy Bell, a large prominent mountain. The origins of the 'bell' part of the name is quite obvious - its shape - but where does the 'Bessy' come from? Is it a perversion of 'blessed'? Is it someone's name?
Although the OS map says 'Stone Circle' there are, in fact, multiple monuments here including two circles and a couple of alignments. This could be a Beaghmore (County Tyrone) type complex.
Not many of the stones are protruding from the peat and those that do are very small. They are spread across a little shelf on the hillside with massive views to the south.
A little further up the mountain there are areas where the peat has washed away. Here there are huge quantities of quartz stones scattered in 'rivers' coming down the slope. The soil level could not have been too great here before the peat formed, so could this slope have been special because of the heavy quartz content?
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About Coordinates Displayed
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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. |
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