Beltany stone circle

References

• The Beltany Stone Circle (National Monument Number No. 463), consists of a disturbed artificial platform c. 0.5m high defined by a circle of large stones of which sixty-four remain but which originally may have numbered about eighty (Boyle-Somerville 1922-3, 212). The stones are of varying sizes and one of them on the NE is covered on the internal side with cupmarks (there is possibly one cupmark on the external side also). The interior of the site was considerably interfered with in the 1930's (Davies 1939b, 293). Great numbers of loose stones are now lying up against the perimeter megaliths and dotted about the surface of the interior. Several stones protrude from the surface of the interior and in the SW sector there is a standing stone 1m high, almost an equilateral triangle in plan, each side .6m. Partially exposed in the ground to the W of the standing stone is the top of a long stone, possibly that referred to by Davies as suggesting a megalithic chamber. To the SE of the circle is an out-lying standing stone (DG070-026002-) 2m high. Boyle-Somerville suggested that this outlier as well as other features of the adjacent horizon were employed by the circle builders to determine astronomical alignments. The circle is situated on the summit of Beltany Hill in good land with excellent views. Sixty metres to the SW of the stone circle and on a slight terrace just below the summit of the hill, is a circular area (DG070-025----) 35m in diameter, open on the W side but defined elsewhere by stone-wall field boundaries. The area is marked as a 'Graveyard' on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch maps and as an 'Old Graveyard' on the 2nd edition. It is not clear what the exact nature of this site was but its proximity to the stone circle might suggest that they were in some way related.

Archaeological Survey of Ireland, National Monuments Service (CC BY 4.0) · Compiled by Eamon Cody (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002) · Updated 22 September 2008. It describes the site as it was when surveyed.