Droumbeag Stone Circle

On our journey back to the airport we stopped of at the fishing town of Union Hall and the small harbour at Glandore. This gave us the chance to visit the most well known prehistoric monument in West Cork. Named after the townland in which it stands, Droumbeag stone circle has survived in an almost perfect state of preservation. We were very lucky as researching these stones today was a retired professor from Oxford Univesity who was very interesting and very happy to share some his knowledge with great enthusiasm. Excavated in 1958 the findings from this circle constitute a large proportion of our knowledge as to the use and age of these monuments. The excavations revealed a number of burial pits, one of which contained cremated human remains. It is known as a recumbent stone circle. The recumbent is a large flat topped rock set on the ground not embedded like the other stones. We could see the deeply carved cup marks and a ring mark, the latter we were informed represented a female vulva. It was pointed out to us that when the sun rose on the midwinter solstice behind the large portal stone opposite, the shadow from this phallic shaped stone fell across the recumbent and eminently female stone symbolising fertility.