The Uragh Stone Circle is an axial five-stone circle located near Gleninchaquin Park,

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

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 ...

. The

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

site includes a multiple stone circle and some boulder burials.

Description

The Uragh Stone Circle is a small Bronze Age axial stone circle. It is located on the

Beara Peninsula Beara () or the Beara Peninsula is a peninsula on the south-west coast of Ireland, bounded between the Kenmare River (which is actually a bay) to the north side and Bantry Bay to the south. It contains two mountain ranges running down its ce ...

, near Gleninchaquin Park, County Kerry, Ireland. Situated between Lough Inchiquin and Lough Cloonee Upper, the site consists of four low

megalith A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. More than 35,000 megalithic structures have been identified across Europe, ranging geographically f ...

s situated next to a large

standing stone A menhir (; from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright rock (geology), stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the Eur ...

. Altogether, there are two portal stones, two side stones and the axial (recumbent) stone. The largest standing stone is high and the circle is in diameter. The centre of the circle has been dug out by treasure seekers. There are a number of other monuments nearby, including a multiple stone circle and some boulder burials.

History

Stone circles are circular arrangements of standing stones, dating from the late Neolithic era through the Early Bronze Age. Monuments were constructed from 3300 to 900 BCE. They are commonly found throughout

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

and

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

. In Ireland, the monuments are distributed primarily in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

and in central

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

. In Ulster, the typical stone circle is constructed of a large number of small stones, usually 0.3 m high, and are often found at higher elevations. There are more than 1300 surviving stone circles in Britain, Ireland, and Brittany today. The original purpose for stone circles in unknown, but many archaeologists believe that they were used for multiple purposes, including burials, religious or ceremonial purposes, and community gatherings. It has also been suggested that the stones were situated in relation to meaningful solar and lunar alignments. In

and

(Cork-Kerry), there are 79 surviving stone circles. The typical Cork-Kerry stone circle contains a ring of large standing stones, symmetrically arranged in generally a northeast–southwest direction. The axial stone is usually positioned directly opposite the stones marking the entrance to the circle. The entrance stones are generally the tallest stones of the circle and the other orthostats decrease in height as they get closer to the axial stone. The axial stone is generally the shortest stone of the circle. The stone circle monuments may also have other stone alignments, cairns or enclosures nearby. All of the 5-stone circles in Cork-Kerry are D-shaped with the axial stone forming the line of the D.

Description

History

References

Further reading