11 replies to this topic

[octmac]

Hello everyone! I will be visting Ireland in Aug and I am planning to see stones, Newgrange is one of the stops I was planning, does anyone know if a bus/train goes there from Dublin as I will not have a car in the last part of our trip. We will be staying in Glenbeigh with a car for the first week, any suggestions for viewing there?
Thanks
octmac - great site!

[Diego]

If you are planning to visit Newgrange, we suggest you to have a look at this page created by Heritage Ireland and full of interesting information. Regarding the bus connections, you can ask for info calling these numbers of Boinne Vistor Centre (Newgrange and Knowth):
Tel. (+353) 41 9880300
Fax (+353) 41 9824798

Hope this helps!

[mewhite]

Do you mean Glenbeigh in Co. Kerry? on the Iveragh Peninsula? West of Killarney? If yes, you're on the wrong peninsula for megaliths. There's not much to see there. Go up one peninsula to Dingle and you'll have lots to see.

Most important, get a copy of Peter Harbison's "Guide to National Monuments of Ireland" -- it'll be at the airport or any decent bookshop. Invaluable.

There are also nice monuments around Dublin other than Newgrange; Harbison can tell you what and where. I like the Piper's Stones in Co. Wicklow (I think). One of the coolest places in Ireland is Lough Crew, which is not far outside of Dublin.

While you're up at Newgrange, try to see Knowth and Dowth, which are Newgrange's "sister" monuments. Of course you'll want to see Tara while you're up there. And since you're in the vicinity, you should visit Mellifont Abbey and Monasterboice. To round out your day. Top it off with a nice dinner at the old mill in Drogheda. A perfect day.

Have fun!

I have just added some link

[Edited by Diego (06-05-2000 at 23:27).]

[Riposte]

If August is still your travel date have a great time. If not, check ahead of time about the sister sites of Newgrange. They are not open the full season that Newgrange is. I learned this the hardway :-(

I agree that Tara is a "must see". Just watch your step, it seems that it is still a working sheep field :-o

[mewhite]

Rereading my post, I feel I should clarify. The Dingle peninsula has no neolithic monuments that I can remember. It is, however, *littered* with other fascinating historical and archeological sites. And it's a delightful place to visit, period.

The best places for neolithic monuments in the west of Ireland are Sligo, Clare, and west Cork. If I had to go to one place, it'd be the Burren in NWClare.

[Angela M]

John O'Brien is right, there are plenty of megaliths on the Dingle Peninsula. Once in Ireland arm yourself with the Ordnance Survey Map "Discovery series 70, Kerry, scale 1:50,000". Marked in red are all the prehistoric sites that you could wish for ... in Gaelic! To get you started;
clochan – heap of stones
gallan (gallain) – standing stone(s)
snoiodoireacht chloiche – carved stones
tuama meigiliteach – megalithic tomb
Armed with this map, once you get to Dingle find the splendid bookshop cafe 'An Cafe Liteartha' and browse through 'The Dingle Peninsula' by Steve MacDonogh, published by Brandon. Full of detailed maps it guides you through Dingle's history, folklore and archeology. Along with two other publications; a walkers guide and a motorists guide to the Dingle Peninsula, both by Maurice Sheehy, you will have enough to hunt out for years to come, and the scenery is breathtaking!
Oh and say hello to Fungi for me.

[Angela M]

John O'Brien is right, there are plenty of megaliths on the Dingle Peninsula. Once in Ireland arm yourself with the Ordnance Survey Map "Discovery series 70, Kerry, scale 1:50,000". Marked in red are all the prehistoric sites that you could wish for ... in Gaelic! To get you started;
clochan – heap of stones
gallan (gallain) – standing stone(s)
snoiodoireacht chloiche – carved stones
tuama meigiliteach – megalithic tomb
Armed with this map, once you get to Dingle find the splendid bookshop cafe 'An Cafe Liteartha' and browse through 'The Dingle Peninsula' by Steve MacDonogh, published by Brandon. Full of detailed maps it guides you through Dingle's history, folklore and archeology. Along with two other publications; a walkers guide and a motorists guide to the Dingle Peninsula, both by Maurice Sheehy, you will have enough to hunt out for years to come, and the scenery is breathtaking!
Oh and say hello to Fungi for me.

[mewhite]

Thanks for the info about the neolithic monuments on the Dingle peninsula. Harbison has let us down there. I'll try to look them up next time I'm there.

Back to octmac's original question, since he will be visiting Glenbeigh, does anyone know of any neolithic monuments on *that* peninsula? I've scrounged around a fair bit on the Iveragh peninsula, and beautiful and fascinating as it is, I have never found any.

[Caitlin]

I just visited Ireland in February--stayed in Waterville, on the Ring of Kerry--there were MANY MANY stone circles and standing stones--didn't have to go to Dingle (although there are plenty there too).  The town of Glenbeigh had many standing stones in the most unexpected places  (in addition to Winn's Folly, the 15th century castle ruin).  A stone circle just west of Waterville, another near Derrynane.  Quite a few easily visible along N70.  Also in Ballinskelligs.  Good luck!

[Gunnar Creutz]

I have Landscape of the Monuments: A study of the passage tombs in the Cúil Irra region, Co. Sligo, Ireland by Stefan Bergh here, and at one of the first pages there is maps that shows the distribution of court-tombs, portal-tombs, passage-tombs, and wedge-tombs in Ireland.
There seems to be 10 wedge-tombs on the Dingle peninsula (3 of them near Inch, and 3 near Dunquin), and 11 wedge-tombs on the Iveragh peninsula (5 of them in the area from Cahersiveen halfways to Glenbeigh, 2 near Ballinskelligs, and 4 south of Waterville), and there is also 2 wedge-tombs on Valencia Island. But there seems to be no court-tombs, portal-tombs, or passage-tombs on those peninsulas.

Gunnar

[Edited by Gunnar Creutz (13-06-2000 at 20:14).]

[Anne]

Just to add to the Irish discussion, some of the most fascinating standing stones and stone circles I've found are on the Beara peninsula in West Cork.  Lots of them, as well as the famous Hag of Beara rock.  The peninsula is on a bedrock of quartz and copper, so if you're at all sensitive to sites you'll find it buzzes.