Derreenataggart West Stone Circle

Derreenataggart West Stone Circle can be found a short drive from Castletownbere, Co Cork.
What remains of this circle stands definitely with some jaw dropping background beauty.
Eight stones remain standing (nine if you count the stub of a broken stone).
The circle originally may have had as much as fifteen stones.
The diameter of the circle is just under 8 meters wide and the tallest of the stones are over 2 meters high.
The circle is well signposted from Castletownbere (about 2 kms ).
Parking is ok with a gate way opposite the site.
This circle although missing stones & with views blocked in some directions is still special so if your in the neighborhood Derreenataggart is a must !!      

Gneeves Stone Row

Gneeves stone row / alignment is one of many to be found in and around Mallow Co Cork.
How I came to find this stone row was all down to luck.
While searching for Garrane stone row  (unsuccessfully) I asked a local - John if he knew of Garrane.
He knew about one in the area I was looking in but was not sure of the exact location.
I described what the stone row looked like to John who then said to me that he had one of these in his fields !!(turned out to be Gneeves)
Running out of time (work) I asked would it be possible to see Gneeves.
A few minutes later and after a short walk down through a couple of fields (past a bull) you stand facing the stone row.
The biggest of the stones is well over 3 meters with the smaller two about half the height of the main stone.

As I worked my way around the stone row we talked and what came across was that I was in the company of someone who is very proud of the alignment on his land.   
About 20 photographs later I was on my way back to the car.
On the way John told me of an old image he had come across of his grandfather working beside the stone row - the image was 100 years old and the stone row had not changed.
So another 100 years on and I can not really see much changing with this stone row (wish I could say the same about many other sites).  

Donore Castle

Donore Castle would appear to be one of the many £10 castles built at the behest of  King Henry VI - he devised a scheme in the early 14th Century whereby landowners would be paid for building a defensive tower to help protect the pale.
Donore is three stories high, all the corners are rounded with the south/west having a round tower with a crumbling spiral staircase inside.
The castle was  seized by Cromwellian forces in 1650 and many of the McGeoghegan clan (who had built the castle)  were slain in the process.
The castle (which is signed) is located just off the R161 as you travel from Trim to Kinnegad. 

Shronebirrane Stone Circle

What I have read and seen about this circle has always pushed it well down my list of must see sites - missing stones and being "Charged" for the privilege of looking at this site.
So when on my way back from another site close by (free to view) and with a bit of time to spare before work, I took the turn for this circle.
The drive down into Drimminboy Valley towards this site is nothing less than stunning and the setting for the remaining 8 stones (originally 13) could not be better.
The tallest of the circles stones is 2.6 meters high, with the others decreasing in height.
You will find better circles close by but for sheer backdrop this makes Shronebirrane a must see.
The Charge, well I hopped the gate saw no one and spent about 15 minutes at the site with the €2 in my pocket (which I spent on an ice cream on the way back to work).  
  

Carrick Castle

The striking ruin of Carrick Castle (sometimes referred to as Carrickoris Castle) is most famous for the horrific medieval murders of 1306.

Sir Pearce Bermingham built an earlier castle on this site and it was he who perpetrated the grizzly murders  on the family of Murtough O’Conor Faly, King of Offaly.
All the details of the background and the murders themselves can be found in this great post by Dr Charles Mount .

What remains today of the castle is just two walls ( the south and east ones ), these look to be for the best part still at their full height.

To find Carrick Castle take the R401 from Edenderry heading north the ruin is in the next field beside Carrick graveyard.

Parking is tricky as the castle is located on a bad bend. You will have no trouble at all spotting the ruin.

Moone High Cross

Moone High Cross is Ireland's second tallest high cross, it can be found a short drive from the post office in  Moone Co Kildare.
The cross is over 5 meters high, made of granite it is dated back to the 8th Century.
The head and base of the cross were discovered in the graveyard of the abbey in 1835, the cross was initially put together with these two sections.
In 1893 the missing middle section was found, and soon after the cross was re erected complete.
The cross features finely crafted Celtic designs, the biblical scenes cover scenes like Daniel in the lions den  the loaves and fishes miracle and the twelve apostles (bottom image).   
The site also has fragments of other high crosses (with some very nice details) displayed close to the main cross.
The church which now provides cover and protection for the high cross is 13th century.

Castledermot Round Tower

Castledermot is one of Ireland's more unusual round towers, the stone work and much altered top gives this tower the look of a giant turret.

The tower dated 10th Century stands to a height of 20 meters, the doorway is at ground level and cannot be seen as it now connects the tower with the modern church via a passageway.

The history of the site:-
St Dermot founded a monastery here which was plundered by the Vikings in 841 and again in 867.
Cormac Mac Cuilleannain the famous scholar, King and Bishop of Cashel was buried here after his head had been cut off in battle in 908.

The monastery was plundered in 1048, and the last known abbot of the monastery died in 1073.
Along with the tower this site has a Romanesque archway (bottom image), two high crosses (with the base of a third) and the only known hogback stone in Ireland.

With so much to offer, I would hope to share more of this site in the future.