Ballynoe Stone Circle
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,_September_2009.JPG)
Ballynoe Stone Circle is a stone circle situated in the small hamlet of Ballynoe two and a half miles south of Downpatrick in County Down.
It is a large and impressive circle lying in cultivated lowland, less than 100 feet above sea level, in the heart of the fertile Lecale peninsula.[1][2] (Latitude: 54.290937N Longitude: 5.726292W)[3]
Location-
- Location map: 54°17’27"N, 5°43’35"W
- OS map: J481404
It is near the disused railway station, reached by a long footpath off the main road, at grid ref:.[4]
Features
It is a large and complex site which appears as a large circle of over 50 closely spaced upright stones, some as much as six feet tall, with some small gaps, surrounding a space about 110 feet across. Two of the fallen stones have cavities which could be artificial cup-marks.
The stones of the outer circle are nearly all composed of local Silurian grit, but a few are granite erratics. Two of the stones stand 7 feet apart immediately outside the circle on the west, and there are four outlying stones, two on the north-east (9 and 40 yards from the circle) and two on the south-west (9 and 50 yards from the circle). In the eastern half of the circle is an oval mound contained within a kerb with diameters of 46 and 58 feet, with the long axis on an east–west alignment.
Immediately inside the circle on the west, opposite a pair of external stones, is an arc of six stones supporting the edge of a raised platform which occupies much the same position as the oval mound on the east. Excavations found that the five-foot-high mound was of stony earth, with a stone cairn at the core. Under the mound, between the cairn and the kerb were found a number of smooth boulders (baetyls) set in the old surface. Large cists were found at the east and west ends of the mound containing cremated bones.[4][1][2][5]
It would seem that a kerbed round mound in the passage tomb tradition was added to the east end of a long cairn in the court tomb tradition, with a stone circle encompassing this composite structure.[6]
The site is the result of long development, and a late Neolithic to earlier Bronze Age date range is likely, as it seems to span several different building phases.[4] Aubrey Burl has noted that a number of the characteristic features of the Ballynoe circle (its diameter, outlying stones and north–south alignment) are closely paralleled across the sea, as at Swinside in Cumberland.[7]
Excavations
The mound was excavated in 1937–38 by Dutch archaeologist, Dr Albert Egges van Giffen, who died before publishing his examination of the site.[7] The excavation concentrated on the mound, finding stone cists containing cremated bones. The only pottery recovered was from a small cremation pocket outside the mound and was a decorated rim sherd of Carrowkeel ware (a type originally identified at the Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery complex in County Sligo).. There was a random scatter of cremation pockets between the mound and the stone circle.[1] The excavations failed to satisfactorily explain the relationship between the various parts of the site.[8]
Pictures
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Ballynoe Stone Circle, September 2009 -
Ballynoe Stone Circle, September 2009 -
Cup marks on stone, September 2009 -
Ballynoe Stone Circle, September 2009
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,_September_2009.JPG)
,_September_2009.JPG)
,_September_2009.JPG)
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ballynoe Stone Circle) |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Evans, EBT (1966). Prehistoric and Early Christian Ireland. A Guide. London: Batsford. pp. 94–95.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Government of Northern Ireland (1947). An Account of the Ancient Monuments in State Charge. Belfast: HMSO. pp. 27–28.
- ↑ "Ballynoe - Stone Circle in Northern Ireland in Co. Down". The Megalithic Portal. http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=657. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (1983). Historic Monuments of Northern Ireland. Belfast: HMSO. pp. 88.
- ↑ Cooney, G (2000). Landscapes of Neolithic Ireland. London: Routledge. pp. 113.
- ↑ Donnelly, JP & Donnelly, MM (1980). Downpatrick and Lecale. A Short Historical Guide. pp. 9.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Mallory, JP & McNeill, TE (1991). The Archaeology of Ulster from Colonization to Plantation. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, QUB. pp. 72–73.
- ↑ Harbinson, P (1992). Guide to National and Historic Monuments of Ireland. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. pp. 107.