21 Jan Lissyviggeen Stone Circle
A few kilometers east of Killarney the tourist bustle falls away into quiet pasture and low fields. A ring of weather‑darkened stones rises from the...
druid Tag
24 Jul Labbacallee Wedge Tomb
Glanworth, Co. Cork This tomb was built two millennia before the ascendancy of the Celts, whose legends named this monument the "Bed of the Witch...
14 Dec Proleek Dolmen
Ballymascanlon House, Co. Louth This site may be unique in Ireland as the only ancient monument likely to hide a golf ball hit into the rough....
21 Nov The Hill of Uisneach
Of the Hills in Ireland where legends speak of a celebrated gathering several have seen a modern attempt at reviving the practice without any enduring...
17 Nov Aghade Holed Stone
(Cloghaphoill)
Tullow, Co. Carlow Niall of the Nine Hostages has been called the "Irish Genghis Khan" due to the number of his descendants. More than three million...
30 Oct Rathcroghan Royal Site
Tulsk, Co. Roscommon Rathcroghan has both a geographic and a symbolic presence. It is an archaeological treasure trove, but it also is the venue of a...
15 Oct The Hill of Slane
There is now nothing remaining of the important monastery and legal center which existed here from the 6th century until the 12th. Also unseen, but...
15 Oct The Rock of Doon
Termon, Co. Donegal The Rock of Doon is a craggy eminence with a storied past and a glorious panoramic view. On its flat summit there was...
15 Oct Rosdoagh Court Tomb
Rossport, Co. Mayo Its postcard location does not mean that this monument is free from modern controversies. In 2005 five local landowners were jailed for their...
15 Oct Poulnabrone Dolmen
The Burren, Co. Clare This exquisitely-proportioned monument sits just off a main tourist route, its spacious new parking area accommodating dozens of buses disgorging daily many...
15 Oct Howth Dolmen
Howth, Co. Dublin Nineteenth-century antiquarian Samuel Ferguson believed it to be the grave of the legendary Aideen, who died of grief when her husband Oscar was...
12 Sep The Children of the Mermaid
Enniscrone, Co. Sligo The stones on this seaside bluff in Co. Sligo were not, in legend, people accused of any transgression. Rather, it was just a...
08 Sep Kildare Round Tower
and St. Brigid’s Fire Temple
Kildare, Co. Kildare In a churchyard that has seen its great cathedral rise from ruin many times in its 1500 year history sit two stone structures...
28 Aug Cairn Thierna
Fermoy, Co. Cork A tumbled pile of stone now seems a secondary feature to the large illuminated Christian cross on the summit of Corrin Hill. But...
18 Aug St. Patrick’s Chair and Well
Cullamore, Co. Tyrone Altadaven Glen, the light-dappled dreamscape location of St. Patrick’s Chair and Well, seems like a small patch of fern-filled rain forest magically dropped...
05 Aug Loughcrew Passage Tombs
(Sliabh na CaillÃghe)
Oldcastle, Co. Meath On his visit to the Loughcrew hills, also called Sliabh na CaillÃghe (The Hill of the Witch) Jonathan Swift heard tales of...
03 Aug Stonehenge
Salisbury Plain, England No, Stonehenge is not in Ireland. But according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Merlin the magician moved Stonehenge from Ireland to England as a...
03 Aug Rostellan Dolmen
Rostellan, Co. Cork Nearly submerged by the tide, the Rostellan Dolmen is the only example of such a "Diarmuid and Gráinne's Bed" to wear a garland...
04 May The Calf House, or Druid’s Altar
Burren Forest Park, Co. Cavan Known as "The Druid’s Altar," for the legendary bloody sacrifices it was reputed to have witnessed, and as the "The Calf...
04 May Ballynahatty Giant’s Ring
Ballynahatty, Co. Down Unique in the country for its central stone tomb, this monument is the largest enclosed ceremonial space in Ireland. The top of the...
03 May Altar Wedge Tomb
Goleen, Co. Cork From its construction in the late Stone Age the Altar Wedge Tomb, with its dramatic waterfront location on Toormore Bay, was the site...
21 Apr The City and
the Paps of Anu
Rathmore, Co. Kerry "When you stand in the middle of the Cathair you get great feeling of satisfaction that you're standing here on one of the...
21 Apr Staigue Fort
Sneem, Co. Kerry The local peasantry called the building Staig an air, which was translated as "Windy House, or "The Staired Place of Slaughter." It was...
21 Apr Magh Adhair
Tulla, Co. Clare Did the memory of a first-century warrior’s grave so impress itself upon the early Dalcassians that they enshrined its sanctity for the inauguration...
21 Apr Newgrange
Slane, Co Meath In 1699 the proprietor of the townland of New Grange needed stones for building. He dug into the scrub-covered mound on his land...
20 Apr Kilclooney Dolmen
Portnoo, Co. Donegal This dolmen is a monumental shape-shifter, suggesting visual allusions, or acting as a megalithic Rorschach Test. People have described it as resembling a...
10 Mar Drombeg Stone Circle
Glandore, Co. Cork Drombeg presides over a view that gently swoops down to the Atlantic a mile distant. Its organically sculpted, honey-colored stones form a circle...
