I would certainly like to see something like this Bawn. There is quite a lot here but you do have to hunt for it. There are a lot of excellent Irish websites but this one is familiar and easy to use.

I had a fabulous time on the Beara Peninsula earlier in the year - but I didn't know what I didn't know until I got there if that makes sense, its only when you get there and start browsing local book shops that you really find what you need. Here I discovered the relatively unknown Jack Roberts who has written beautiful illustrated maps and guides to ancient sites for Cork and Kerry but who has no internet presence at all.

It would be good to be able to share folk-lore and literature as well. I'm just coming to the end of a book by Frank Delaney called 'Ireland' which tells the history (and prehistory) of Ireland through the medium of story telling - starting with Newgrange. It is also the story of a young man who hears the story teller for the first time as a boy and takes up the mantle as an adult. One sentence I loved "Nor had he found all of the places mentioned in that last chronicle; as yet he had not seen hares dance; as yet he had not spent the night in the warm arms of a stone circle."

I for one would love to see something more visible on the forum that encouraged information sharing about Ireland. Thanks for the suggestion.

It would be great to see something to stimulate Irish interest but there are so few of us that we are inevitably swallowed up here. Unfortunately all interest ends up on facebook these days so forums are not the flavour of the month any more.

Why does Four winds not post here anymore?

Well keeping Ireland in the picture what about Father Ted's house for a stay; found this in ecotourism... stone fort, cairns etc.

http://www.fathertedshouse.com/what-we-offer/

Yesterday I was given access to some letters written in the early part of 1972 by a young Englishman who had just moved to Belfast for work. The letters convey some of the great unease of living and working in Belfast during the height of the troubles. It seems that people who were able to often went over into Donegal to spend time away from the stress of Belfast - I picked up on this extract from one of the letters ...

"We stayed at a little place called Glencolumbkille which, if you look at the map, is as far west as you can possibly get in Donegal ... We explored the village with its souterrain in the churchyard and Celtic standing stones all around. We took a look at a megalithic tomb in the middle of nowhere ... "

I would be grateful if someone could identify where these monuments are and what they are known as. I guess there would not be that many churchyards. Would like to visit one day.

Just saw this posted by the superb 'Megalithic Monuments of Ireland' on FB. Looks interesting.

"Newgrange: Monument to Immortality" by Anthony Murphy

http://www.theliffeypress.com/newgrange-monument-to-immortality.html

Another book worth putting on the Santa list ...

"Ancient and Holy Wells of Dublin"
by Gary Branigan

ISBN: 9781845887537
Publisher: History Press, Ireland

The waters of holy wells are associated with the powers of divination or the curing of illness. Many of these wells are located in areas of great natural beauty, often in groves of trees or hollows in the landscape, while others are hidden in darkness, in tunnels, secret chambers and caves. The aim of this book is to celebrate the existence of these ancient places and to better equip the reader with the knowledge to seek these important wonders out for themselves.

Covering the wider Dublin region, and including reference points and GPS coordinates for each of the sites, this book will become a stepping stone for the reader into an important and often overlooked part of Irish cultural heritage.

Hey Lads,
Nice to see your pics up - November is a pretty good month for getting out and about. Not too many animals in the fields.

Any one got any plans for the winter solstice this year? 22nd & 23rd fall on a weekend so may make it easier to get out to places.

I'll probably be down in North Tipp so will have a look at the alignment of a few local stone rows and see if any of them have potential for sunrise / sunset alignments.

Thanks to Rhiannon putting up two great bits of folklore. I had heard of Carriggleena before but never seen any pictures of it.
Nice use of boards.ie as well!

There's quite a bit of stuff going on down in Waterford which has slipped under the radar.
Mike Powers Carrigaruppera-Stone man equinox alignment (stone man= Moore H1) see Moores report..A bronze age settlement and ritual
centre in the Monavullagh Mountains, county Waterford, Ireland, proceedings of the prehistoric society, 61, 1995, pp. 191-243, has yet to be recognized, despite it being one of the most outstanding alignments in Ireland next to Newgrange. (see Deices No.63, 2007, the journal of the Waterford archaeological and historical society journal)
Other alignments by Chapman and Power remain unaknowledged, having
being reported, and verifiable by simple observation.
Quote, by someone who will remain nameless, but who has considerable influence in Irish archaeology, and who saw some of this.
"Don't push this any further, and don't expect archaeologists to come down here and help you, they never have, and never will."

This is a very interesting and well put together web-site ... just been having a look around.
http://www.prehistoricwaterford.com/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Origins-Irish-J-P-Mallory/dp/0500051755/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357292619&sr=8-1

Great new book out on the origins of the irish on the 21st Jan 13 - I've it pre-ordered and look forward to it.

This is probably old news but I've only just spotted it. The Survey of Megalithic Tombs of Ireland is now on archaeology.ie in pdf format...

http://www.archaeology.ie/PublicationsFormsLegislation/

The University College of Dublin has made back issues of the student archaeological journal Trowel available online. Looks good!

http://www.trowelucd.com/back-issues.html

I posted a news item back in 2010 about the Tirnony Portal tomb. The capstone had fallen so the Northern Ireland Environment Agency planned to have the site excavated before restoring the monument. The Megalithic Monuments of Ireland Facebook page has posted something about the situation along with photos. Wondered if anyone knew when reconstruction will take place.

Extract from MMI facebook post:
Having had the great pleasure of visiting the many wonderful megalithic monuments in the north of Ireland, over many decades, I was shocked when a friend visiting Tirnony Portal Tomb (SMR Number LDY 036:010) recently, found the capstone has not been replaced nearly 2 years after the completion of excavations.

Anyone have any plans for visiting a site for the Equinox in Ireland? Im debating maybe heading to Loughcrew - its always a very early start though!

Gold bling at Dublin National Museum, where did all that gold come from?

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/bronze-age-ireland-the-country-s-golden-era-1.1332517?

I set-up a facebook page with a forum app on it to try and tap into the collective mind of the irish archaeological facebook community at the following link
https://www.facebook.com/TheIrishAntiquarian
As the membership is likely to be larger (but less committed) if anyone wants to join up and contribute that would be great.

Hey Ryaner, looks like you had a nice day out at Bremore. I've only been there once but they are lovely.

Just some news, not quite sure how to take it, marketing of rock art?

http://www.herald.ie/news/family-finds-5000yearold-artwork-under-gorse-bushes-29288463.html

Picked up on Facebook, but it has a commons creative license; Sad reflections on the state of archaeology in Ireland, which I am sure will be repeated here as well. It is, as we all know down to money and funding....

http://www.dayofarchaeology.com/picking-up-the-pieces/

http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/2529/beltany.html

Am tentatively hoping to visit Donegal next year, all being well. Rather intrigued by this stone circle which to all intents and purposes seems to date to the Iron Age rather than the Neolithic.
http://thinplacestour.com/2013/06/18/beltany-stone-circle-thin-place-in-co-donegal/

Is this uncommon or something specific to the north of Ireland?

I just noticed on the archaeology.ie website that some of the records, when you click into them, now also have a photograph of the site. Also recording the written Megalithic Tombs of Ireland in the documents part of the website. They now have links to the photos and plans related to these also.

http://www.archaeology.ie/PublicationsFormsLegislation/

Walking in Dingle last week, loads of great early Christian sites and standing stones though no stone circles.
While visiting Kilmalkedar Church, came across an information board about the 'Corr Aille Spiral Stone' only fairly recently discovered. Joined up with a couple of people determined to find it and followed the Pilgrim's Way ('Way of the Saints') posts to the top of Reenconnell Hill. One of the couple went on ahead and triumphantly found the spiral stone in a rocky outcrop at the very top of the hill. An amazing spot with views of two bays and on the way to Brandon Mountain which is the route of the Pilgrim's Way. The information board suggested it was pre-Christian ... does anyone know more about this. Would be grateful for more information and whether it should be added as a rock art site on TMA.