Derreenataggart West : Stone Circle

CountyCork
Grid RefV 666 463
GPSV 66555 46298 (10m)
Longitude9° 55' 42.49" W
Latitude51° 39' 12.39" N
ITM east480366
ITM north584435
Nearest TownCastletown (1.4 Km)
OS Sheet84
UTM zone29U
UTM x449041
UTM y5761192
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Visit Notes

Sunday, 5th September 2004

What a beautiful stone circle ! It is not complete but what remains sits beautifully in the landscape, which can be appreciated despite the proximity of the field boundaries.

Eight stones still stand with one or two others lying nearby. The axial stone and one of the portals are amongst the remaining orthostats so it is possible to see that the axis is roughly east-west with the axial stone to the west. There is a lovely view to the south towards the gap between the west end of Bear Island and Piper's Point.

While I was here the mist was starting to roll in from the west and gently carressing the mountains to the north and west. I wanted to stay for the sunset, but I had to set off for home - it's a long way from here to Dublin!

Stones circles, put quite simply, are rings of standing stones, although not all of them are cicular, many being eliptical. Many have definite layout plans and often stone circles in one region share a similar style, e.g. Cork features many axial stones circles, where a recumbent stones faces an apparent entrance into the circle (see Drombeg (County Cork)).

They are the most well known of megalithic monuments and the ones most likely to capture anyone's imagination. Many theories exist about the original purpose of these enigmatic structures, the most popular (and at times most controversial) one is that they were built as astronomical observatories, many having apparent solar alignments with the sunrise and sunsets at the solstices and equinoxes. Lunar and star alignments have also ben noted.

No matter what the exact purpose it is certain that they played a significant role in the ritual or religious lives of the builders. One thing that nearly everyone has in common is that they are located in the most dramatic of places, usually offering unrivalled views.

Quite often other monuments, such as alignments, cairns, boulder burials or outliers, are to be found in close proximity to stone circles.

Like this monument

Marked Sites

Random Gazetteer

A Selection of Other Stone Circles

About Coordinates Displayed

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.

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