All Time Favorites: Northern Ireland, Day 8

Some days, things just line up right. You ate your vegetables, you went to bed on time, you helped an elderly person across the street… whatever, you banked a lot of karma and then it all comes due. Today was a jackpot of a day even if it got cut short in the end. The first place we went was actually a holdover from yesterday (when we were just too tired) and would have to be on any shortlist of most amazing sites we’ve ever seen. The second place we went to, while not nearly as spectacular, would make a shortlist of most interesting site we’ve seen, which may be splitting hairs but dang it these are my imaginary lists and I get to make what I want. And aside from these we also saw an incredibly fascinating stone that would probably make one of those lists, or another one I make up, if I knew what to make of it. I’ve got some reading to do, I think. Then again, so do you! Right now, even!

The morning began at Beaghmore Stone Circles. Y’all. This is a truly amazing site, and the Irish know it. The site has top notch access, with signage and even a significant car park. The picture at the top of the post tries to capture the scope of it, but we would need a fish-eye lens to have a chance. There are 7 circles, 12 cairns, and numerous alignments connecting them all. 6 of the circles are in pairs, with cairns often between them. It’s kind of infuriating, that there are such obvious, intentional patterns within a site like this but we still can’t figure out what they were used for. Hell, there’s a new theory conceived with the help of some astronomers that the site resembles certain comets, and that the creators were trying to create synchronicity between the world of earth and the world of the sky. Honestly, this is one of those times where neither a mountain of words nor a movie’s-worth of photos does a great job of describing the experience. We’re just glad we went.

The second site of note was the Ballymacdermot Cairn, which happens to be a court tomb. The reason I loved it so much was simple: unlike any other court tomb we’ve seen, the top is off of this one. Normally I’m pro-leave stuff in the ground, but…. well, I don’t care this time. Every other court tomb, you see some portion of the court section and you try to imagine the tomb. Here, you actually see the path to the tomb, and the decline into the ground, and the forechamber of the tomb, and the rear chamber where the cremated remains would be interred. I get it now in a way I had only been able to intuit before. It was truly fascinating, and in such great shape that you didn’t have to leave much to the imagination. Trivia time: Ballymacdermot is still in great shape despite the fact that a US tank bumped into it in 1945 while on training maneuvers. Ye gods.

The last and most inscrutable site was the Kilnasaggart Pillar Stone. Yet another access grade is necessary: “E”, when there are cows to circumnavigate + you walk so long you’re sure that you’re in the wrong place. I actually rang the doorbell on the house nearby just to ask if I was in the right place, and also if I was allowed to cross a rope line that was in place in one field. (Turns out there were poisonous-to-cows flowers in that field, the rope line was just a visual barrier that the cows apparently won’t cross.) The Pillar is newer than most of the things we visit, being (almost definitely) an early Christian artifact; expert analysis puts it in the neighborhood of 700 CE. Despite its relative youth (heh) we don’t really know what it’s for. It has an inscription which dedicates it, but doesn’t say why. There’s nothing nearby – it’s in a field all by itself (although the land owners have recently encouraged a hedge to grow up around it, giving it a more overt sacred feel to it as long as you don’t linger on the fact that it’s only a few years old) with nothing to hint at its purpose. It’s literally covered in different styles of crosses, celtic and otherwise, in a far more chaotic fashion than we’re used to seeing in Christian artifacts. It’s a truly odd piece, but will still put you into a contemplative frame of mind, whatever your faith is.

We had a couple more sites on our itinerary, but all this tromping and wall-sclambering left us tuckered out, so we made for our new hotel which, it turns out, is actually located in the Republic of Ireland making this a multinational trip. Woo! We’ll be homing out of this location for the next few days, circling out to see the numerous ancient sites in the area, starting tomorrow with a little catchup from today.