Burt Castle

Burt Castle stands proud on a hill called castlehill overlooking Lough Swilly.
The castle is thought to have been built  in the the 16th Century, during the reign of Henry VIII.  
Coinage which dates from Henry VIII's era & with the armorial bearings of The O'Doherty's has been found close by. 

The three storied castle is built from rough rubble and all of the inner floors have fallen in. 
The quadrangular structure has circular towers at its alternate angles, with the walls said to be 1.5 meters thick at the base.
The towers can be climbed with some care and give you an idea as to why Burt still stands strong.

Access:-
The ruin is on private land.
I came off the N13 - the main Derry Letterkenny  road, (castle can be seen from this road).
I managed to come at the castle from the side, so a stiff climb, a ditch, some nettles and a barbed wire fence accounted for the first field  with the second field similar but without the stiff climb.   










  

Gortnavern Portal Tomb

Gortnavern is a stunner of a tomb and although the capstone has slipped back it is being kept in place by one of the side stone's that has fallen in.
The long thin capstone is over 3 and a half meters long and the two portal stones are 2 meters in height.
This tomb gives you many different shapes when viewed from all sides, and all of them are very striking.

Gortnavern's real problem (apart from access) is the gorse growing all around the tomb, to give you an idea how bad this is - if you look at the small image I was stood in the open patch just below the tomb " but I could not see any part of the tomb ".

Access"
This is where your going to have some fun !

This tomb can be tackled in a couple of ways, and both of them are far from easy !!
The way I found this tomb I could only recommend if you are willing to battle it out.

I saw no sign's for this tomb so I got lucky when the tomb was spotted from the car driving up the road.
I came at the site from the East which involved crossing a strong stream and then battling my way through some gorse to finally arrive at the tomb.
Leaving the site I could not find the part of the stream that I crossed at, so I walked alongside the stream back down towards a farmhouse where I met the farmer who very kindly drove me back up to my car.        

 



   

Beltany Stone Circle

Beltany Stone Circle is a site that looks big (even on small images), but it is only when you walk up to the circle you realise how massive this site is !!

The circle consists of 64 stones and may have had as many as 80 stones originally.

The diameter of the circle is close to 45 meters with the centre having a raised platform.

The site was much disturbed at the beginning of the last century which resulted in many of the stones getting pushed outwards.

Some of the stones in the circle have an average height of 2 meters along with the outer stone which is 20 meters S/E of the circle.

The site is very well signposted from Raphoe with a few minutes walk from the parking area to the circle.









   
 

Kildare Round Tower

Kildare Round Tower rises to an impressive 32 meters in height.
The tower was constructed from Wicklow granite and local limestone.
This tower is from the 12th Century and is said to have been built on the ruins of an earlier tower.

The doorway is without doubt the standout feature of the tower.
It is 4.5m from ground level and has the remains of some Romanesque motifs.
The tower (which is the second highest in Ireland) can be climbed in the summer for a small charge.

The grounds also contain St Brigid's Cathedral, a High Cross and the remains of St Brigid's Fire Temple.
Opening times for the tower are  May to Sept 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, Sunday is just 2pm to 5pm.

Ardamore Stone Alignment & Standing Stone

Ardamore stone alignment consists of three standing stones, which is over 7 meters in length.
The tallest of the three is 3 meters in height with the other two just over 2 meters.
The alignment is claimed to be orientated on the setting sun at the Winter Solstice.  
The setting for this site could not be more stunning with great backdrops in every direction (on a clear day).

The standing stone is in the same field as the alignment and is equally impressive.
This beast of a stone is north-east of the alignment and is located in the bottom part of the field.
The stone is close to 3 meters in height and is 2 meters in width.
One side of the stone is decorated with art motifs, to see these markings click on this link to Megalithic Ireland .
Finding this great site is pretty easy I asked for permission at the farm and walked up the rough road (about 4 minutes).   

Dromatouk Stone Circle

Dromatouk Stone Circle is a great little circle that is well worth the effort of finding.
When you do find the circle it throws in a nice bonus for the effort (see below).

The small (but perfectly proportioned) circle has five stones - with two large black thorn trees growing inside the stones.
The largest of the stone is 1.5 meters in height with the circle over 2 meters in diameter.

Finding the circle is pretty easy if you approach it from the southern side.
I found a track that brought me right up to the field that has the circle in it.
I made my trek to the circle in the middle of Ireland's two week heatwave (yes heatwave and Ireland in the same sentence!!!!), which meant the track was dry and firm. This could be a different story at other times of the year as the land is very boggy in most parts.

The bonus you can just spot in the top image.
It is behind the trees to the right of the circle - Standing stones (a post of which will follow soon).

Shrule Castle

Located on the Galway Mayo border is the ruin of Shrule castle built around 1238 by the Norman deBurgo family of Galway.
All that remains today is four walls (with a couple of very nasty cracks running from top to bottom).
The history of the castle would appear to have been fairly quiet until 1570 when it was captured by
Sir Edward Fitton with a strong British force.
From then on the castle exchanged hands several times.
It was occupied until sometime in the 17th Century.
History refers to a massacre that took place in 1641, but their is some dispute as to the amount killed.
The castle is on your right as you come into Shurle from Galway, and is very easy to spot as you travel along the N84
This ruin is in a dangerous state so caution should be used at all times during your visit.