Grange stone circle

The stone circle of Grange ( Irish Lios na Gráinsí , German "ring fort of the monastery") was built around 2100 BC. Built in BC. With 113 stones on the circumference and 48 m in diameter, it is the largest stone circle in Ireland .

location

The stone circle is located about four kilometers north of Bruff and 300 meters west of Lough Gur on the R512 road in the townland of Grange ( Irish An Ghráinsigh ) in the civil parish Monasteranenagh ( Mainistir an Aonaigh ) in County Limerick in Ireland.

description

Completely different from the "Eastern Circles", the stone circles of the Cork-Kerry and Ulster series , Grange, who is one of only nine "Western Circles" (the stone circles of Glebe ), has an approximately 11 m wide wall of approximately 2 m height, against which the circle stones are placed from the inside. The memorial has more of the shape of a henge or an “Embanked Stone Circle” than a conventional stone circle. 12 large orthostats are distributed around the circumference and face each other. Another unique piece leads into the circle, flanked by particularly large stones. The northern one of its entrance stones, known as the " Crom Dubh " (the old (or crooked) black man - name of a Celtic god) is about 2.5 meters high and weighs more than 50 tons. A post hole found in the center shows that the circle was measured from here, which is the reason for its almost perfect shape.

During the excavation, numerous pieces of Neolithic pottery, two herd of human and animal bones and bronze material were discovered.

A smaller, more damaged stone circle (Grange Nord) lies in a field to the north.

literature

Aubrey Burl: Prehistoric Stone Circles. Osprey Publishing, 2005, ISBN 0-747-80609-8 .

Individual evidence

↑ Stone circle whose ring stones are set inside or on a low, wide stone or earth wall. These circles fall in the middle period according to Aubrey Burl's three-phase theory of the development of the stone circles (2670–1975 BC). In Ireland only Castleruddery has a similar shape.

Web links

Description and pictures (last accessed on December 10, 2012)
Images (last accessed on December 10, 2012)
Short text engl. and pictures (last accessed on December 10, 2012)
"Grange North" short text engl. and images (last accessed February 8, 2013)

52.514277777778 -8.5418055555556Coordinates: 52 ° 30 ′ 51.4 " N , 8 ° 32 ′ 30.5" W.

[1] Stone circle whose ring stones are set inside or on a low, wide stone or earth wall. These circles fall in the middle period according to Aubrey Burl's three-phase theory of the development of the stone circles (2670–1975 BC). In Ireland only Castleruddery has a similar shape.