Balrothery Standing Stone, County Dublin

 Balrothery Standing Stone

At Balrothery in north County Dublin lies a Standing Stone in an unusual setting.

It is located in the heart of a housing development.

It is quite a large stone by mass. 

This stone is a remnant from  our Bronze age past and an important local antiquity.

Standing Stones - Monumental Ireland

fingal.ie/Heritage by Area - Balrothery

Keep the wheels turning.

The incisions on the stone are likely Plough marks 

and not as suggested by some Ogham strokes.

Historic Environmental Viewer / RMP Record  DU 005 057002 :

Description: Located on the landscaped open space of Cloich Choirneal housing estate in Balrothery Village. It is four-sided with a distinct E-W axis (H 1.5m; 2, L 1.25m; Wth 0.95m). There are a series of plough marks on the lower portion of its W face (Healy 1975, 17). Archaeological test excavation (01E0255) and monitoring (01E0371) were undertaken in advance of the housing estate development. In 2010 a flower bed was placed around the standing stone obscuring its base. Compiled by: Geraldine Stout Updated by: Christine Baker Date of upload: 15 November 2014 

 

References:  Healy, P. 1975a Second report on monuments and sites of archaeological interest in county Dublin. An Foras Forbartha Teoranta. Healy, P. 1975b Third report on monuments and sites of archaeological interest in county Dublin. An Foras Forbartha, Dublin. 

 

Six-Inch First edition:  

Six-Inch Latest edition: Gallan 

 

ITM Coordinates: 720146 , 761260 

Latitude and Longitude: 53.587427 , -6.185305

The La Tène Stones of Ireland

There are just four of the rare La Tène Iron age decorated stones in the Republic Ireland that I am aware of.

A further fifth stone is located at Ballymoney Museum in the North of Ireland, the Derrykeighan stone.

La Tène is a form of early central European artwork. 

It strikes me as being somewhat similar to the Viking era Scandinavian Urnes styles however I'm no expert.

The La Tène stones in Ireland are comprised of the Castlestrange Stone, the Killycluggin Stone, the Truroe Stone and the Mullaghmast Stone.

The Castlestrange Stone.

The stone has been set among smaller cobbles and is open to visitors with no restrictions on access to view it.

Unfortunately when we visited Truroe in Galway to see the Truroe Stone we soon discovered that it had been taken into the National Museum for cleaning several years previously and that the locals were still wondering when or if it was coming back.

I'm unable to verify its location at present.

Below is a reproduction of the wonderful Killycluggin Stone near where it was initially found.

The original is broken and now housed in Cavan County museum at Ballyjamesduff.

There is also a fantastic and quite wonderful outdoor reproduction of a WWI trench system and the museum is a true hidden gem deserving of a visit.

The absolutely beautiful Mullaghmast stone in the National Museum, Dublin.

It is almost a jet black colour.

Note the marks in the last picture where most likely Swords were drawn against it in Oath Swearing rituals or promises of fealty.

Mullaghmast in County Kildare was the scene of a vicious and deceitful slaughter by British troops who massacred the troublesome  leaders of the"Septs" of Laois after luring them there to Parley.

It was also much later in the 1800's the location chosen for a "monster rally" held by the "liberator", Daniel O'Connell.

Keep the wheels turning.

Drumena Cashel and Souterrain, County Down

Drumena Cashel.

I was to pass by Drumena Cashel on my way home through County Down a while ago so I stopped by to see it rather than drive straight past.

It's between Castlewellan and Kilcoo and lies close to the road.

The weather wasn't the kindest, but was rather a "soft day thank God" kind of day.

An onsite information board describes Drumena Cashel as an example of an early Christian era Cashel "farmstead enclosure".

While this might be true for the Cashel at Drumena it certainly is not true for all Cashels.

A Cashel is usually 

(though not always) a single defensive circular wall constructed of stone, sometimes built to a significant height.

It is often thought that most Cashels were indeed small homesteads or farmsteads but some of the larger ones such as at Lough Gur in County Limerick appear to be multi Cashel outposts, possibly with some of the walled  enclosures used to safeguard livestock in times of crisis or uncertainty .

 

The straightforward definition of a Cashel is simply a "Stone Fort" and the period of their usage is often given as sometime between the middle/late Iron age to the early medieval period, roughly 200 C.E. to 1000 C.E.

Those dates are a very rough estimation. Some Cashels were probably seeing continuation in use until considerably later in time.

It is also possibly quite likely that some Cashels were purely defensive in nature with no ongoing habituation and used only in times of War.

There are literally hundreds of Cashels to be found in Ireland and some contain accessable Souterrains such as the Cashel at Drumena.

Souterrains are underground passages used for the storage of goods and foodstuffs.

As well as being a safe place to store food it's possible the darkness, confined space and cooler stable temperature inside helped with preservation of foodstuffs and protection of it from vermin or interlopers.

In some places larger Souterrains could also afford temporary protection or shelter to local inhabitants. I'm thinking in particular of the large Cave of the Cats, Oweynagat in Roscommon, which was also a Souterrain although not in the context of Cashels.

Cave of the Cat

Below is the entrance to the Souterrain made accessable with the addition of some steps 

Cahergall Cashel - Kerry (OPW)

It's quite likely that some Cashels were used for metalworking and were early armouries much like Rathgall Hillfort in Wicklow which was a large base for small scale industrial Sword making.

heritageireland.ie - Grianan-of-aileach - Cashel (Donegal)

CommunitiesNI-Drumena-cashel-and-souterrain

irishmegaliths -Cashels etc.

Choosesligo.com/ring-forts--cashels-in-sligo

Keep the wheels turning.

Southern Spanish Cave Art at Cueva de los Letreros

 

Cueva de los Letreros

The Cave of the Signs.

At a rocky escarpment in Southeast Spain's Almeria region known as Cueva de los Letreros is to be found some very rare Iberian Prehistoric Cave Art.

This location is only accessable with a guide.

It is a reasonably long climb and while not too taxing it is not for anyone unfit or faint of heart. 

The ascent begins as a small meandering dirt track through an Almond orchard.

Most of the upward journey has been "stepped" to make access a little easier up the steep slope.

It is located not far from the towns of Velez Blanco and Velez Rubio, both beautiful little towns worthy of a visit in and of themselves.

One of the towns, Velez Blanco, has a noteworthy and beautiful Castle with an unusual connection to the U.S.A.

Castle of Velez-Blanco

Castle Brochure

Cueva de los Letreros is just one of a number of sites dotted about the region which contain examples of Neolithic Cave Art and are designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

One particular painting represented in the Cave Art at los Letreros is the figure of a human holding what has been interpreted as both a Bow and a Rainbow. 

Take your pick, neither is definitive.

This figure is known as Indalo and is to be found throughout the region on everything from signs, jewellery, buildings, artworks and a host of other things and is synonymous with the Almeria region.

The Los Letreros Cave contains representations of what is known as Levantine-style Prehistoric Painting, with highly schematised animal figures (goats, deer, etc.) as well as men and women, usually with bowed arms and legs, dating to around 5,000 BC. 

The Los Letreros Cave was declared National Historic Monument in 1924, and more recently a World Heritage site. At this rock shelter the Indalo figure was discovered, representing a man holding a rainbow with his hands, and which has become the most representative symbol of Almeria.

Velez Blanco and Velez Rubio

Velez Rubio - Iglesia Parroquial de Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación

It is very difficult to convey both the beauty and the importance of these Neolithic era Cave paintings in these rough and somewhat shoddy photographs of mine.

While it is unlikely that any particular one of us can correctly identify or guess at what the many shapes portray or are describing, undoubtedly some are of obvious human form, some are animals and yet others seem anthropomorphic or possibly stylistic to the ancient artists themselves.

The reality is that today, they are what the eye of the beholder wishes them to be.

They are a wonder to behold in person and I feel very blessed to have had the opportunity to do so.

Indalo him or herself.

A blow up from an onsite information board.

As you can see there is quite a lot going on in the artwork itself so it is probably telling a great many stories, about exactly what who knows ?

That's my best guess anyway.

Keep the wheels turning.