Rathfran Stone Circle
Datedc. 2500 BCE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
Rathfran Stone Circle is a stone circle and National Monument located in County Mayo, Ireland. It lies to the west of Killala Bay, northeast of Summerhill House.
The circles at the site were built c. 2500 BC. There are two of them, a larger northeast circle and a smaller southwest circle on a raised platform.
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Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Rathfran Stone Circle
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
The main circle, in the northeast, is 18 m (59 ft) in diameter. It is composed of 16 stones, and many of these are large blocks up to 1.5 m (5 ft) high.
The southwest circle consists of 8 stones set on a raised platform.
The monument stands west of Killala Bay and northeast of Summerhill House, in County Mayo.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
The monument stands west of Killala Bay and northeast of Summerhill House, in County Mayo.
HistorySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
The stone circles were built c. 2500 BC. The monument is now protected as a national monument of Ireland, and its dating is given as a typological estimate.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
Ireland's best-known type of stone circle is the recumbent or axial circle of the far south-west. A recumbent stone circle incorporates a large monolith, the recumbent, lying on its side. Circles of that type are found in only two regions: Aberdeenshire in north-east Scotland and the counties of Cork and Kerry, where they are now more commonly called Cork-Kerry or axial stone circles. Some archaeologists, such as Aubrey Burl, have linked them with rituals in which moonlight played a central role, but this remains a hypothesis.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Irish stone circles
Ireland's best-known type of stone circle is the recumbent or axial circle of the far south-west. A recumbent stone circle incorporates a large monolith, the recumbent, lying on its side. These circles are found in only two regions: Aberdeenshire in north-east Scotland and the counties of Cork and Kerry, where they are now more commonly called Cork-Kerry or axial stone circles. Some archaeologists, such as Aubrey Burl, have linked them with rituals in which moonlight played a central role, since they are aligned with the arc of the southern moon; excavations at Tomnaverie in Scotland have suggested that no alignment was intended, so this remains a hypothesis.
Drombeg, near Glandore in County Cork, is also called the Druid's Altar. It is a small axial stone circle, not an especially significant example, but one of the most visited megalithic sites in Ireland. It originally consisted of seventeen closely spaced stones, of which 13 survive, made of local sandstone, in a circle 9.3 metres across. Two taller entrance stones stand opposite a recumbent axial stone, and the axis points south-west towards the setting sun. The recumbent, 1.9 metres long, has two egg-shaped carved cup marks on it. The circle was excavated in 1958, when the cremated remains of an adolescent were found in a pot at the centre.
Stone circles in the British Isles typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most built between 3300 and 2500 BCE. The name "Druid's Altar" is a later popular one.
When visiting, look for the two tall entrance stones and the recumbent opposite them, and note the direction in which the axis points.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Drombeg stone circle, Wikipedia: Recumbent stone circle, Wikipedia: Stone circle · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 2500 BCE
The stone circles were built c. 2500 BC.
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 3300–2500 BCEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for stone circles in Ireland; this site has not been dated itself. Stone circles are typical of the British Isles and Brittany and most were built between 3300 and 2500 BC.Source for this date
Where it stands
Ireland
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 54°14′38″ N, 9°14′24″ WFor a GPS or map app: 54.24380, -9.24010
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Rathfranpark Wedge Tomb2500–2000 BCE- MegalithWedge Tomb von Breastagh3300–2900 BCE
Court Tomb von Carbad More3750–2900 BCE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Cashel Cairn3700–2900 BCE
- Menhir (standing stone)Carrowtrasna2800–1800 BCE
Rathlacken3750–2900 BCE- Rathlackan Tomb3750–2900 BCE
Rathoonagh Court Tomb3750–2900 BCE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
3 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q27878403wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
- 03Wikipedia: Rathfran Stone Circleen.wikipedia.org
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Rathfran Stone Circle" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): Rathfran Stone CircleCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q27878403CC0