Stone circles in Ulster

The stone circles in Ulster are concentrated on the plateau south of the Sperrin Mountains in County Tyrone with smaller clusters in Counties Londonderry , Fermanagh in Northern Ireland and Donegal in Ireland .

Ulster's stone circles (of the so-called Mid-Ulster type), unlike those in the rest of Ireland , with a few exceptions, are made of stones that are rarely more than 50 cm high. The circles, which often appear in groups, can touch each other and be accompanied by small menhirs , small cairns ( stone circles from Broughderg ) and long and short rows of stones . Many districts are overgrown in the region's moors. They can often only be recognized by a few higher stones.

The largest stone circle of Beltany in Ulster at 45 m, but not characteristic of the type

Beaghmore

The most informative dig in Ulster was at Beaghmore near Cookstown . The monuments uncovered under a layer of peat cover an area of 145 by 55 m. The total extent of the area is unknown because a two meter high layer of peat covers the surrounding area. In oven pits and under the Cairns were an ax from porcellanite , a number of discounts from Flint devices , as well as fragments of Neolithic found vessels. The radiocarbon dating shows that most of the circles, rows of stones, and cairns were erected in the late Bronze Age (1535 and 775 BC). The finds from the Neolithic period date from around 3300 BC. Chr.

The excavations of

Drumskinny , at Kesh in County Fermanagh
Cuilbane, near Garvagh in County Derry.

Drum skinny

Drumskinny consists of a stone circle, a row of stones and a cairn. The circle has a diameter of 13 meters and originally consisted of 39, height-disordered menhirs (three are missing), with heights between 0.3 and 1.8 meters.

Cuilbane

Cuilbane (also called “Tamny Cromlech”) has a diameter of twelve meters. It consists of 15 low stones, the tallest is 1.2 meters high. It was examined and restored in 1985. 65 flint devices of various types were found in the package of one of the larger stones. The find confirms that at least some of the circles in Ulster were formed during the Neolithic.

Ballynoe

Ballynoe , at Downpatrick, is a circle 35 m in diameter made up of 55 stones that are up to 1.8 m high. In the center it contains a long cairn, which was only later introduced into the circle, at each end of which there is a stone box. Another stone circle surrounds the eastern end of the Cairn. The recovery of shards of the Carrowkeel Ware and the presence of Bätyls indicate a relationship with the Passage tombs .

Complexes not fully excavated

The Copney Stone Circles are located on Copney Hill near Carrickmore in Tyrone. Here is a complex that archaeologists became aware of in 1979. It consists of eight stone circles, many of them with concentric inner circles or a central cairn.

Clogherny Meenerrigal near Plumbridge in County Tyrone is a wedge tomb , which, like Iceland in Cork, is surrounded by a circle of 17 menhirs about one meter high.

The three counties in the north of County Donegal are atypical of the Mid-Ulster series:

Bocan stone circle is near Culdaff . Seven, once around 30, between one and two meters high stones form a circle with a diameter of 20 m.
Carrowreagh is on the moor at Carndonagh. Six menhirs form a circle 26 m in diameter. 125 m to the east is a wedge tomb , which is also half sunk in the moor.
The largest stone circle in Ulster is Beltany . The name comes from the Celtic spring festival Beltaine. It is located on a hill south of Raphoe in County Donegal . The 45 m wide circle is now formed by 64 stones between 1.2 and 2.75 m high (once around 80). In the circle are the remains of a granite hill. 21 m from the circle is a 1.8 m high menhir in the southeast. A stone from the Iron Age decorated with Celtic ornaments was found in the circle . Nearby are the Tombs passage from Kilmonaster Middle .

Also on the east coast, near Strangford Lough , there are three circles atypical for the Mid-Ulster series.

Castlemahon near Strangford, consists of six orthostats about one meter high that form a circle 21 meters in diameter. Excavations revealed flint tools, charcoal and shards of Neolithic vessels (bowls) in a small hole near one of the stones. Near the center of the stone circle was a large pit in which a strong fire had burned. Next to it was a tiny stone box with the burned bones of a child and a flint knife.

The late Neolithic megalithic complex at Millin Bay in County Down is located near Portaferry on the Ards Peninsula . Their structure does not fit into any common classification for Irish stone circles. It consists of a central, extra-long stone box and a closely placed semi-oval made of set-up stone slabs, which is complemented by a counterpart made of wider and larger stones. A north-south row of stones divides the oval parallel to the middle stone box, and another seven stone boxes complete the whole.