Beltany Stone Circle
Beltany top
Early to Late Bronze Age·Bronze Age Ulster (Donegal tradition)·🇮🇪 County Donegal, Ulster, Ireland
About
About Beltany Stone Circle
Ireland's major Bronze Age stone circle on hilltop above Raphoe, Donegal: 64 sandstone orthostats in 44.5 m diameter ring (originally ~80 stones), one of largest circles in Ireland, enclosing low platform cairn and outlier standing stone triangle to southeast. Built c.2100–800 BCE. Noted for small cup-marks on one stone and southwest orientation. Believed associated with Beltane fire festival. Severely robbed but still imposing; one fallen stone has heavy cup marks. Overlooks Foyle valley.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Platform cairn inside circle — successive or complementary?
Theories
- 01Beltane (May Day) fire circle giving name; solstitial observation platform
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 2100–800 BCE
- Period
- Early to Late Bronze Age
- Culture
- Bronze Age Ulster (Donegal tradition)
- Purpose
- Large ceremonial circle with cairn, Beltane assembly
- Abandoned
- Iron Age
- Rediscovered
- Surveyed 19th century; OPW guardianship
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 2100–800 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1478 CE
Abandonment
On the ground
Structures & features
54.8570° N · 7.6040° W · 130 m · 2 mapped features
Platform cairn
cairnLow internal platform cairn within 44.5 m ring
54.8570° N · 7.6040° WOutlier stone triangle
standing stonesThree outlier stones 10 m SE forming triangle
54.8569° N · 7.6038° W
Gallery