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GLACKADRUMMAN County Donegal

Few stone circles are recorded from Ireland’s most north-westerly county, and perhaps only two can be identified with certainty; several possible sites lie partly buried in peat bog and have not been fully investigated. Glackadrumman circle occupies a prominent position on windswept Mass hill (so called from its use as a place of clandestine worship in Penal times), 1 mile from Culdaff village, and is sometimes known by its old name Bocan, or Banchan, from bainseachan, meaning pastureland, which it still is.

A ring of perhaps thirty stones originally, with a diameter of 65-70 feet, its despoiled state is the result of land clearance for agriculture in the early nineteenth century. Many stones were removed and others buried where they were overthrown. Fortunately the scheme was never completed, but a number of potentially important finds within the enclosed area were not preserved. Seven stones up to 6 feet in height remain standing and a few are prostrate. Before its mutilation this must have been one of the more impressive megalithic rings in the country and as significant archaeologically as those of the southwest Munster series.

Click here to buy the Appletree Press book from Amazon.co.uk. For more information click on: Ireland's Ancient Stones - A Megalithic Heritage by Kenneth McNally, published by Appletree Press.

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