Rings of standing stones from the end of the Stone Age and the start of the Bronze Age — rarer than people think, and nobody knows what they were for.
A stone circle is a ring of standing stones large enough to gather inside, and most were built between about 3300 and 2500 BC, at the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of the Bronze Age. They belong to north-western Europe (Britain, Ireland and Brittany above all) and true circles are much rarer than the name suggests: many things called stone circles are actually ring cairns, kerbed burial mounds or the remains of something else.
What they were for has never been settled. Ceremony and ritual are the usual answer, and the alignments some of them show to the solstice sun support it; but there is no consensus among archaeologists, and every confident explanation should be read as one theory among several. What is certain is the effort: quarrying, moving and raising the stones was a communal undertaking that needed planning and specialist skill.
Ireland's circles cluster in two regions (the south-west, in Cork and Kerry, and mid-Ulster) and the two groups are different in style. The list below has every circle with a documented article and a location.
Sources: Wikipedia — Stone circle ↗
Ardgroom (Irish: Dhá Dhrom, meaning 'two drumlins') is a village on the Beara peninsula in County Cork, Ireland. Its name refers to two gravelly hills deposited by a glacier, Dromárd and Drombeg. It lies to the north west of Glenbeg Lough, overlooking the Kenmare River estuary. It sits between the coast and the Slieve Miskish Mountains.
Bohonagh is an axial stone circle located 2.4 km east of Rosscarbery, County Cork, Ireland. The circle is thought to date from the Bronze Age. A boulder burial is sited nearby (grid ref: 308 368).
Carrigagulla (Irish: Carraig an Ghiolla) is a megalithic complex 2.9 km north-east of Ballinagree, County Cork, Ireland. It consists of an axial stone circle, two stone rows, and an ogham stone, which has been moved around a half mile away.
Drombeg stone circle (also known as The Druid's Altar) is a small axial stone circle located 2.4 km (1.5 mi) east of Glandore, County Cork, Ireland. Although not an especially significant example, Drombeg is one of the most visited megalithic sites in Ireland, and is protected under the National Monuments Act.
Glantane East (An Gleanntán Thoir) 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.
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.
Templebryan Stone Circle (also known as The Druid's Temple) is a stone circle, located 2.5 km (1.6 mi) north of Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland. Grid ref: W386 438. Close by lies an Early Christian site. Today there are only four upright stones of the original nine. It is probable that many more upright stones were on this site.
Beltany is a Bronze Age stone circle just south of Raphoe town in County Donegal, Ireland. It dates from circa 2100-700 BC. There is evidence that it may also have been the sacred site of Neolithic monuments, possibly early passage tombs.
The Bocan Stone Circle is a stone circle situated near the village of Culdaff in the north of Inishowen, a peninsula on the north coast of County Donegal in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland.
Ballynoe Stone Circle is a complex multi-phase site, meaning its use spans multiple periods of human history. It is believed to be some 5,000 years old dating from the late Neolithic (around 3000 BC) into the Early Bronze Age (itself two millennia from 2500 – 500 BC).
Drumskinny (from Irish Droim Scine 'ridge of the knife/edge') is the site of a stone circle in the townland of Drumskinny, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. With the inclusion of an adjacent cairn and alignment, the stone circle is a State Care Historic Monument in Fermanagh and Omagh district, at grid ref: H 2009 7072.
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.
Grange stone circle (Irish: Lios na Gráinsí, meaning 'Fort of the Grange') is a stone circle in County Limerick, Ireland. It is located 300m west of Lough Gur, 4 km north of Bruff. The Limerick-Kilmallock road is nearby. It is estimated to be 4,000-years-old, dating from the Bronze Age.
Aughlish (also Auglish) is a townland and the site of at least six stone circles and two stone rows, in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 3.6 km from Feeny.
Corick (from Irish Comhrac 'confluence') 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.
Cummeen Court Cairn is a court cairn and National Monument located in County Sligo, Ireland.
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.
The Piper's Stones or the Athgreany stone circle is a Bronze Age stone circle at Athgreany, County Wicklow. It sits on a low hillock overlooking the N81, 2 km south of Hollywood.
Descriptions are Wikipedia's own opening lines, used under CC BY-SA 4.0 with a link to each article; the list and the coordinates come from the same place. Nothing here is a guide to access — many of these stand on private land.
Most were built between about 3300 and 2500 BC, at the end of the Neolithic and into the early Bronze Age — later than the great passage tombs.
Nobody knows. Ceremony and ritual are the usual answer and some circles are aligned to the solstice sun, but there is no consensus among archaeologists, and the honest position is that it is unresolved.
Mainly in two regions — the south-west (Cork and Kerry) and mid-Ulster — in two distinct styles. This page has the 18 with a documented article and a location.
Know one that is missing? Thousands of stone circles have no article and no pin — a townland name and a rough location is enough to start.
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