Grange stone circle () is a

stone circle A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially Stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being ...

County Limerick County Limerick () is a western Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Reg ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. It is located 300m west of Lough Gur, 4 km north of

Bruff Bruff () is a town in east County Limerick, in the midwest of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, located on the old Limerick–Cork (city), Cork road (R512 road (Ireland), R512). The town lies on the River Maigue, Morning Star river, with two bridg ...

. The

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

Kilmallock Kilmallock () is a town in south County Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, near the border with County Cork, 30 km south of Limerick city. There is a Dominican Priory in the town and King John's Castle (Kilmallock), King's Castle (or K ...

road is nearby.

Features

The largest stone is ''Rannach Chruim Duibh'' (

Crom Dubh Crom Dubh (, ; meaning ":wikt:dubh, black :wikt:crom, crooked ne; also ''Crum Dubh'', ''Dark Crom'') is a mythological and folkloric figure of Ireland, based on the god ''Crom Cruach'', mentioned in the 12th-century ''Metrical Dindshenchas, di ...

's Division) and is over 4m high and weighs 40 tonnes. The entrance of the circle is aligned with the rising sun at the

summer solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...

. A short distance to the north-north east of the main stone circle, is a second smaller circle, also constructed of large stones. To the north of this is a large leaning standing stone. Around 1/3rd of the site has been excavated with old pottery and human remains being found within it, during the summer solstice many people, including druids meet up there, it's still a very sacred place to many people. On Wednesday, 17 August 2022, there was a remarkable discovery of carvings on one of the stones of Grange Stone Circle at Lough Gur, County Limerick, by Ken Williams, a leading Irish archaeological photographer. He has developed methods of lighting stones to photograph them to maximum effect and he has found a number of new carvings over the years in this way. He was returning to check the stones at Grange Stone Circle for carvings as part of his current research, people still leave money and crystals there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grange Stone Circle 2022 archaeological discoveries Stone circles in Ireland Archaeological sites in County Limerick Summer solstice