Manning : Stone Circle

CountyCork
Grid RefR 776 041
GPSR 77649 04077 (3m)
Longitude8° 19' 36.66" W
Latitude52° 11' 17.36" N
ITM east480366
ITM north584435
Nearest TownGlanworth (1.9 Km)
OS Sheet73
UTM zone29U
UTM x449041
UTM y5761192
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Visit Notes

Sunday, 1st February 2009

This site is marked on the OS maps as a stone circle , but it is more likely to be the remnants of a massive cairn kerb . The site is very ruined and in a state of turmoil. Farm machinery, smashed up concrete and rolls of fencing wire lie strewn over the site.

The monument is situated on a high spot and would enjoy extensive views in all directions, but these are now limited by tall trees to the southeast.

Some of the stones are massive - over 2m long and 1m tall. The circumference is incomplete with many gaps in the line of the kerb. Many stones have fallen flat and the vegetation is high within the site, so there could be a lot more stone present than appear to be. Inside the circle there is a pile of stones, which are modern field clearance.

If this site was better known and tidied up a bit it would be a nice monument to visit. The current landowner is quite interested in it, but doesn't know much about it - he's not alone there as this is an unexplored monument.

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.

A cairn is a large pile of stones, quite often (but not always) containing a burial. Sometimes they have a kerb around the base.

Most cairns are hemi-spherical (like half a football), but the piles of stones used to cover wedge tombs, court tombs and portal tombs are also called cairns. When associated with these types of monument they are not always round, but sometimes rectangular or trapezoidal.

A kerb is a ring of stones placed around the perimeter of a burial mound or cairn. It basically serves the purpose of a retaining wall to keep the cairn or earth in place. Kerbs are usually associated with passage tombs, but do occur on court tombs and wedge tombs too.

Sometimes on passage tombs the stones can bear decoration, such as at Newgrange (County Meath).

Like this monument

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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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