Templebryan BACK
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A mile or two up MacCurtain Rd near the tourist office in Clonakilty is Templebryan stone circle. No signposts - but stepping stones jutting out of the bank, opposite a bungalow, allow you to climb up on top of and see it without trespassing.
A mile or two up MacCurtain Rd near the tourist office in Clonakilty is Templebryan stone circle. No signposts - but stepping stones jutting out of the bank, opposite a bungalow, allow you to climb up on top of and see it without trespassing.
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Five
stones are still visible but according to Burl there were nine standing
in the eighteenth century. When I was there in March 2000 the site
was advertising a large notice for a nearby riding stables and was
being ploughed very close. This was once called The Druid's Temple,
and somewhere nearby is a ruined church with a standing stone with
ogam markings, which I couldnąt find at all. 339 in A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, by Aubrey Burl (Yale University Press) 44 in The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry, by Jack Roberts, (Bandia) |
Drombeg
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One of the few stone circles in County Cork with proper signposts all the way, off the Glandor and Clonakilty Rd, it is a short walk from the sign posts with a proper car park. Seventeen stones including recumbent one. This site has been excavated and has proper labels. Two prehistoric huts and a cooking area are part of the site. This is the show case circle in Co. Cork and apparently gets pretty crowded in summer. In March 2000 I met only a few visitors in my three visits there.
Excavations in the late l950ąs showed that the turf had been removed from inside the circle to make a "floor".
One of the few stone circles in County Cork with proper signposts all the way, off the Glandor and Clonakilty Rd, it is a short walk from the sign posts with a proper car park. Seventeen stones including recumbent one. This site has been excavated and has proper labels. Two prehistoric huts and a cooking area are part of the site. This is the show case circle in Co. Cork and apparently gets pretty crowded in summer. In March 2000 I met only a few visitors in my three visits there.
Excavations in the late l950ąs showed that the turf had been removed from inside the circle to make a "floor".
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Of stone number 14 the excavators said "there can be no doubt that
the inclusion of the lozenge shaped boulder, with its roughly bulbous
outer face, in the Drombeg circle, while plentiful suppliesof pillar
stones were freely available about the site, was a well considered
act by the circle builders." They added that stone number 15 had a
phallic outline. 317 in A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, by Aubrey Burl (Yale University Press 48 in The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry, by Jack Roberts, (Bandia) |
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Reanascreena.
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This is difficult to find and is two or three fields away from the road. The first farmhouse I asked at had somebody in the house who refused to come to the door. I got lucky second time with another farm. It is a beautiful little recumbent circle known as "the ring of the shrine" with 13 stones surrounded by a small ditch, water and reeds. One stone is inside the circle, not quite in the centre.
This is difficult to find and is two or three fields away from the road. The first farmhouse I asked at had somebody in the house who refused to come to the door. I got lucky second time with another farm. It is a beautiful little recumbent circle known as "the ring of the shrine" with 13 stones surrounded by a small ditch, water and reeds. One stone is inside the circle, not quite in the centre.
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This
was excavated in l960, partly because of its unusual ditch. The
excavators argued that it wasnąt according to the normal henge pattern,
but that it did "displpay certain features which are common to henge
monuments while at the same time retaining its distinctive recumbent.stone
circle characteristics. It is possible that the builders.. were
influenced by the ring-barrow tradition." Inside the circle was
a pit with nothing in it and to one side was a burial pit with cremated
bone fragments.
335 in A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, by Aubrey Burl (Yale University Press 49 in The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry, by Jack Roberts, (Bandia) |
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Also
known as Knockawaddra You can see this from the road so a farmer's
permission is not needed. A thorn bush hides one of the five stones.
327 in A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, by Aubrey Burl (Yale University Press) 55 in The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry, by Jack Roberts, (Bandia) |
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Bohonagh
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Off the N71 just outside Ross Carberry. If you drive to the top of the hill opposite can look across and just see it on the ridge. There are 9 stones remaining from the original 13 of this recumbent circle. Nearby is a boulder burial, with a huge capstone supported by smaller stones. There is a nearby white farm from which you need permission ­ if only to make sure the bull is not in field! A glorious site with magnificent views.
Off the N71 just outside Ross Carberry. If you drive to the top of the hill opposite can look across and just see it on the ridge. There are 9 stones remaining from the original 13 of this recumbent circle. Nearby is a boulder burial, with a huge capstone supported by smaller stones. There is a nearby white farm from which you need permission ­ if only to make sure the bull is not in field! A glorious site with magnificent views.
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According
to the archeologist who excavated this in 1959 there were originally
13 stones. In the centre was a low mount whch a pit underneath containing
soil, pebbles and bits of cremated bone. The excavators concluded
that the inteior of the circle had been deliberately stripped of
turf and soil before the cremation was inserted. The capstone of
the burial has some cupmarks. Nearby were some postholes in a rectagular
shape, possibly a hut but there was no signs of habitation refuse.
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in A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany,
by Aubrey Burl (Yale University Press) 47 in The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry, by Jack Roberts, (Bandia) 
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Kealkil
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Five stones in a small recumbent circle. Two large standing stones and radially kerbed cairn are nearby. There is a sign from the road towards the circle and from the Catholic Church in the village you may be able to see it on the skyline. Continue up the hill and it is on your left, keeping an eye out for a "Beware of the Bull" sign. This suggests that it is prudent to get the farmer's permission! The circle is just a short walk from the gate.
Five stones in a small recumbent circle. Two large standing stones and radially kerbed cairn are nearby. There is a sign from the road towards the circle and from the Catholic Church in the village you may be able to see it on the skyline. Continue up the hill and it is on your left, keeping an eye out for a "Beware of the Bull" sign. This suggests that it is prudent to get the farmer's permission! The circle is just a short walk from the gate.
When this circle was excavated in l938 the tallest outlying stone had fallen and was broken. Its original height was nearly 19 feet 10 inches with about 2 feet 5 inches sunk in the ground. When the excavators tried to replace the unbroken bit of fallen stone in its socket, "we came to realise the difficulty of raising such a stone, even though almost three and a half feet shorter than that deal with by the ancient builders. It was, therefore, clear that the stone must have been raised in the first instance by means of trestles or some such device to such a height that its erection consisted of the lowering of the stone into the stocked rather than its being levered up to the vertical." |
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The
circle itself was found to have had two shallow trenches, intersecting
at right angles near the centre. The excavators concluded that these
had contained two wooden beams, which supported a post at the point
where they crossed. More details are in the Jounral of the Cork
Historical and Archeological Society, vol. 44 1939
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| 323
in A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany,
by Aubrey Burl (Yale University Press). 69 in The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry, by Jack Roberts, (Bandia) |
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Maulatan
Valley BACK
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Seven of the 11 original stones in this recumbent circle remain. Inside the ring is one of quartz placed off-centre. An archeologist in l930 thought this might be a coronation stone for a local chief. One current theory was that the recumbent stone was a sitting place for a local leader to address others. Difficult access but a zoom lens allows you to photograph it past the edge of two large poultry barns.
Seven of the 11 original stones in this recumbent circle remain. Inside the ring is one of quartz placed off-centre. An archeologist in l930 thought this might be a coronation stone for a local chief. One current theory was that the recumbent stone was a sitting place for a local leader to address others. Difficult access but a zoom lens allows you to photograph it past the edge of two large poultry barns.
53 in The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry, by Jack Roberts, (Bandia) |
| Cullomane
SE of Bantry. W 035 455 BACK
TO TOP A small recumbent circle of five stones, with two of them fallen. It lies one field away from an old straight track and is named after St. Cullomane, also known as St Colman. Nearby was Cullomane’s well. 315 in A Guide to the Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany, by Aubrey Burl (Yale University Press) 66 in The Stone Circles of Cork and Kerry, by Jack Roberts, (Bandia) |
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Knocks
SE or Knocks A. W300445 BACK
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In a field behind the Creamery on the Clonakilty to Dunmanway road. A deep ditch now prevents easy access so my photo was taken across the valley. |
Bohonagh
Cullomane
Drombeg
Kealkil
Knocks
Lettergorman
Maulatan Valley
Reanascreena
Templebryan