This circle is a bit of a disappointment. Occupying a position in lush pasture on the north slope of a low hill, it over looks an oddly formed little valley. Directly north Dromore Hill, with its large crucifix, seems to dominate the site, but quite amazingly the combination of Mullaghmesha Mountain and Nowen Hill to the north east take on the form of a sleeping, pregnant lady lying on her back. It is one of the clearest recumbent hill figures that I have seen in Ireland yet. If my out-of-tune modern eyes can see this form, then the builders of the circle must have come here just for her. The only surprise is the poor quality of the monument they built to look at her.
Walking from the gate your first impression is that the stones are whitewashed, but it is in fact an extremely light lichen. The low stones (none of them are over 30cm tall) lie in a rough circle about 3.5m in diameter and as I say, is quite weak in form and substance. Perhaps this was done on purpose so that you would not be too distracted and would look around and see the figure on the hill opposite.
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. |