 View of the Standing Stone at the main Complex | |
| Official name | Knocknakilla |
|---|---|
| Reference no. | 420 [1] |
Knocknakilla is the site of a megalithic complex (grid reference W297843 ) situated between Macroom and Millstreet, in County Cork, Ireland. It is set in blanket peatland on the north-west upper slopes of Musherabeg mountain and is thought to be 3500 years old.
The mid-Cork area is rich in archaeological artifacts, and the surrounding townlands contain two cashels, a ringfort, two fulacht fiadh, a possible souterrain and a circular enclosure. [2] The word Knocknakilla is derived from the Irish Cnoc na Cille, as 'The Hill of the Church'.
[]] The site is located is on a level patch of bogland overlooking a deep valley and comprises a recumbent stone circle, a radial cairn and two pointy portal stones (one of which has fallen), aligned north-northeast to south-southwest. The stone circle is made up of five 1.3- to 1.5-metre-high stones, of which two (the axis and east sidestone) fell sometime in the last 50 years. [3]
Three meters away is a 10-stone, 3.5-metre-diameter, radial cairn which was first discovered by Coillte Teoranta in 1970. The upright standing stone is 3.7 metres tall, and it leans heavily to the north. [3]
Knocknakilla is best known for its large phallic, now leaning, portal stone. Given the stones' relation to both the rising and setting sun, it is thought that they were aligned with purpose and functionality in mind, likely as calendars to early farmers, [4] probably related to harvest or fertility ceremonies. [3]
The Mên-an-Tol is a small formation of standing stones in Cornwall, UK. It is about three miles northwest of Madron. It is also known locally as the "Crick Stone".
Arbor Low is a well-preserved Neolithic henge in the Derbyshire Peak District, England. It lies on a Carboniferous Limestone plateau known as the White Peak area. The monument consists of a stone circle surrounded by earthworks and a ditch.
A stone circle is a ring of megalithic standing stones. Most are found in Northwestern Europe – especially in Great Britain, Ireland, and Brittany – and typically date from the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, with most being built between 3300 to 2500 BC. The best known examples include those at the henge monument at Avebury, the Rollright Stones, Castlerigg, and elements within the ring of standing stones at Stonehenge. Scattered examples exist from other parts of Europe. Later, during the Iron Age, stone circles were built in southern Scandinavia.
Corick is a megalithic site and townland in the civil parish of Ballynascreen, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It includes a stone circle and a stone row. The Corick stone circles and alignments are located 2 km north east of Ballybriest court-tomb, 400 metres south of Corick clachan, near a stream. The stone alignments and circle are Scheduled Historic Monuments in Corick at grid reference: Area of H780 896.
Beaghmore is a complex of early Bronze Age megalithic features, stone circles and cairns, 8.5 miles north west of Cookstown, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, on the south-east edge of the Sperrin Mountains.
A stone row or stone alignment is a linear arrangement of megalithic standing stones set at intervals along a common axis or series of axes, usually dating from the later Neolithic or Bronze Age. Rows may be individual or grouped, and three or more aligned stones can constitute a row.
The Callanish IV stone circle is one of many megalithic structures around the better-known Calanais I on the west coast of the Isle of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. It is a scheduled monument and its official name is Sron a'Chail. The site was first surveyed and recorded by RCAHMS in 1914 and again in 2009, with another survey in the 1970s by other archaeologists, but no known archaeological excavations have taken place at the stones.
Carrigagulla is a megalithic complex 2.9 km north-east of Ballinagree, County Cork, Ireland.
Doll Tor is a stone circle just west of Stanton Moor, near the village of Birchover, Derbyshire in the English East Midlands. Doll Tor is part of a tradition of stone circle construction that spread throughout much of Britain, Ireland, and Brittany during the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages, over a period between 3300 and 900 BCE. The purpose of such monuments is unknown, although archaeologists speculate that the stones represented supernatural entities for the circles' builders.
Glantane East is a megalithic complex situated 6.4 kilometres (4.0 mi) from Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland. It is set in the Keel River valley on the north-west upper slopes of Musherabeg mountain, in the townland of Glantane. The complex includes a wedge tomb, two stone circles and a pair of stone alignments.
Drombeg stone circle is a small axial stone circle located 2.4 km (1.5 mi) east of Glandore, County Cork, Ireland.
The Uragh Stone Circle is an axial five-stone circle located near Gleninchaquin Park, County Kerry, Ireland. The Bronze Age site includes a multiple stone circle and some boulder burials.
Kilclooney More is a townland in the northwest of Ireland in coastal County Donegal. It is situated halfway between Narin and Ardara at the R261 on the Loughrea Peninsula.
Carrigaphooca Stone Circle is a stone circle and National Monument located in County Cork, Ireland. It is situated 4.4 km (2.7 mi) west of Macroom, immediately east of Carrigaphooca Castle, north of the N22, and near the confluence of the River Sullane and River Foherish. The name means "stone of the púca".
An axial stone circle is a megalithic ring of stones of a particular design found in County Cork and County Kerry in southwest Ireland. Archaeologists have found it convenient to consider the axial five-stone circle and axial multiple-stone circle separately. The circle has an approximate axis of symmetry aligned in a generally northeast–southwest direction. The stone at the southwest side of the circle, rather than being an upright orthostat like all the rest, is a slab lying horizontally with its long thin edge along the circumference of the ring. Because it marks the axis of the circle it is called the axial stone.
Kealkill stone circle is a Bronze Age axial five-stone circle located just outside the village of Kealkill, County Cork in southwest Ireland. When it was excavated in 1938 it was thought the crucial axial stone indicated an alignment to the north, contrary to the general alignment of such stone circles to the southwest. However, later archaeologists have thought it is the comparatively insignificant stone to the southwest that is the axial stone. There are two associated standing stones nearby, one of which had fallen and was re-erected in 1938.
Tomnaverie stone circle is a recumbent stone circle set on the top of a small hill in lowland northeast Scotland. Construction started from about 2500 BC, in the Bronze Age, to produce a monument of thirteen granite stones including a massive 6.5-ton recumbent stone lying on its side along the southwest of the circle's perimeter. Within the 17-metre (56 ft) circle are kerb stones encircling a low 15-metre (49 ft) ring cairn but the cairn itself no longer exists.
Dooey's Cairn, or Ballymacaldrack Court Tomb, is a prehistoric site of the Neolithic period, situated near Dunloy, in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
| Authority control databases: Geographic |
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