Dromatouk

July 28th 2014
It's a lovely hot and sunny day and we are heading over the Caha Pass into Kerry to find the Stone circle and Rows in the Townland of Dromatouk.
Dromatouk is situated South East of Kenmare, to the South of the Roughty River.
We turn off the N71 and go past the Sheen Falls Hotel and through the myriad of lanes before finding the small track that heads down to the stones.
There's a lot going on here - a small five stone circle, two stone rows (one incorporating an Ogham stone), a radial cairn and a standing stone.

Ogham inscription

I start at the furthest row (called an anomolous group in the Archaeological inventory). Three stones stand in an East - West direction. The middle stone, which is also the largest of the three, bears an Ogham inscription which McAllister records as Mongunilocid Maqi Alotto (McAllister 1945 Vol 1 219).

Next I head over to the stone circle. A lovey little five stone circle with two Hawthorns growing inside. The recumbant stone has a beveled top.

On the other side of the track  (and just over a fence) is the stone row. The area had been swaled recently, and the stones sit amongst the charred grass and gorse. The row has three stones and is aligned NE - SW. The stones are basically the same height - 0.8m 0.8m & 0.9m respecively.

To get to the standing stone and radial cairn, you have to go back up onto the road, Go West for about 60m and down an overgrown track, over a gate and follow the hedgerow. The standing stone is incorporated into the hedge just 3m from the cairn, which is  just the other side of the fence. The stone is about 1.7m in height and roughly triangular in shape and would have been quite impressive in it's original context. The radial cairn is now a jumble of scattered stones.

Seeing as we are up this way, we decide to go round the Beara, calling in at The Hag of Beara and the standing stone at Urhin en route.
I've written about the Hag in a previous blog, so I'll just post a few photographs.

The standing stone in Urhin Townland is situated in a meadow on the edge of Coulagh Bay, by Trevaud Strand. The stone stands at 1.22m and there are three small cup marks on it's Southern face.