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Inscribed Across the Landscape: The Cursus Monuments of Great Britain

Inscribed Across the Landscape: The Cursus Monuments of Great Britain

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Ballynahatty - Henge in Ireland (Northern) in Co. Down

Submitted by Anthony_Weir on Monday, 26 June 2023  Page Views:

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Ballynahatty Alternative Name: The Giant's Ring
Country: Ireland (Northern) County: Co. Down Type: Henge
Nearest Town: Belfast  Nearest Village: Ballynahatty
Map Ref: J32726770
Discoverer Map Number: D15
Latitude: 54.540248N  Longitude: 5.950117W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
4 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
5

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External Links:

I have visited· I would like to visit

Stone Free visited on 13th Jul 2013 - their rating: Cond: 4 Amb: 4 Access: 5

macd visited There's so much more to Ballynahatty than the henge and megalith - spectacular as they are! Have a look at http://www.laganvalleylearning.co.uk/archive/Giants_Ring/teachers/Giants%20Ring.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273292677_A_Neolithic_ceremonial_timber_complex_at_Ballynahatty_Co_Down http://lisburn.com/books/historical_society/volume9/volume9-1.html https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35179269 There are loads more articles available online. Recent dry spells have shown up even more exciting discoveries in the vicinity of the Giant's Ring.

DrewParsons have visited here

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by Flickr : Image from page 438 of "Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland" (1849) Identifier: journalofroyalso1899roya Title: Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Year: 1849 (1840s) Authors: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Transactions Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Proceedings and transactions Royal Society o... (Vote or comment on this photo)
Henge in Co. Down. Only 6.5 km S of the centre of Belfast via the Malone Road and Minnowburn Beeches, “The Giant’s Ring” is an impressive and atmospheric monument, consisting of a circular bank some 3.5 metres high enclosing a large space some 180 metres in diameter and 2.8 hectares in area. Top photo is from the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1849

At least three of the 5 irregularly-spaced gaps in the henge are intentional, and possibly original. The site seems to be one of those “anomalous” monuments erected by the late-Neolithic “Beaker People” of N Britain who were responsible also for the large free-standing stone circles at Ballynoe and Newgrange, as well as the stone circle backed by a henge at Lough Gur. E of the centre of the enclosure is a small, derivative passage-tomb whose vestigial passage faces W. Excavations beyond the bank yielded evidence of more Neolithic activity.

See below for photos from the 2015 eclipse taken from Ballynahatty, The Giant’s Ring

Note: Out Now: Ballynahatty - Excavations in a Neolithic Monumental Landscape
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Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by Sveta : This one of Irish megaliths - a prehistoric portal tomb. Location: South Belfast (Co. Down). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by KenWilliams : Shortly after dawn, 4th January 2006. The gates are locked here before 10am so you have to walk the five minute track to the henge to be here earlier. (3 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by KenWilliams : Isolated against a clear February sky. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by durhamnature : Drawing from "Journal of British Archaeology..." via archive.org (Vote or comment on this photo)

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by ladrin : Stones and trees (1 comment)

Ballynahatty Eclipse 2015
Ballynahatty Eclipse 2015 submitted by ainsloch : Solar Eclipse 20th March 2015 - peek-a-boo!

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by Anthony_Weir : Photo by Anthony Weir

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by DrewParsons : The dolmen in the middle of the Giant's Ring. Photographed by Joan Johnston in 1990 showing the 3.5 metre high ring in the background.

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by curiousmeanders : Close up shot of the tomb within the Henge.

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by curiousmeanders : Ballynahatty or the Giant's Ring. Huge henge which was impossible to get all of it in the camera frame. This shot gives a sense of the size where you can see the remains of the tomb centrally.

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by Flickr : Image from page 437 of "Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland" (1849) Identifier: journalofroyalso1899roya Title: Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Year: 1849 (1840s) Authors: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Transactions Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. Proceedings and transactions Royal Society o...

Ballynahatty Eclipse 2015
Ballynahatty Eclipse 2015 submitted by ainsloch : Solar Eclipse 20th March 2015 - the light starts to fade

Ballynahatty Eclipse 2015
Ballynahatty Eclipse 2015 submitted by ainsloch : Solar Eclipse 20th March 2015 - waiting for a break in the clouds

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by Bladup : The Giant's ring, The chambered cairn inside the henge with the henge bank behind.

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by Bladup

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by Bladup

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by ainsloch : The Giant's Ring on a nice sunny day.

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by durhamnature : Old drawing from "Guide to Belfast..." via archive.org

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by durhamnature : 1902 photo from "Guide to Belfast, Down and Antrim" via archive.org

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by durhamnature : Old drawing from Ulster Naturalists via archive.org

Ballynahatty
Ballynahatty submitted by KenWilliams : The passage tomb on 9/2/06

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 4.9km N 11° Belfast (Ulster Museum)* Court Tomb (J335725)
 8.0km WNW 289° White Mountain, Lisburn and Castlereagh Standing Stone (Menhir) (J2502870021)
 9.4km NNW 336° Ballygomartin Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir)
 10.0km NW 313° Tournagrough Stone Row / Alignment (J252743)
 11.7km N 355° Ballyaghagan Cashel Ancient Village or Settlement (J31287936)
 11.9km N 1° McArts Fort* Stone Fort or Dun
 12.0km N 360° Ballyaghagan Cairn* Cairn
 12.2km N 1° The Devil's Punchbowl Cave or Rock Shelter
 12.2km NNW 344° Ballyutoag Court Tomb Court Tomb
 12.6km N 358° Collinward Cairn* Cairn
 13.2km ENE 65° Greengraves* Portal Tomb (J4454073630)
 14.5km E 94° Ballygraffan Portal Tomb* Portal Tomb
 17.4km NNW 343° Craigarogan* Chambered Tomb (J270842)
 18.6km ESE 107° Ballymartin Rock Art Rock Art (J50766285)
 19.4km ENE 60° Conlig Standing Stone* Standing Stone (Menhir) (J49377783)
 21.0km N 5° West Division Stone Row / Alignment (J338887)
 21.9km NNW 341° Moyadam* Standing Stone (Menhir) (J2510388312)
 22.2km NE 54° North Down Museum* Museum (NW634352)
 23.5km E 88° Mount Stewart Cist* Cist (J5624069380)
 23.5km NNW 331° Donegore Moat* Artificial Mound
 24.0km SSE 157° Annadorn Dolmen (Loughinisland)* Chambered Tomb (NW52870072)
 24.2km NNW 334° Donegore Hill Causewayed Enclosure
 24.5km NNW 341° Doagh* Holed Stone (J2416590683)
 24.6km S 191° Legananny* Portal Tomb (J2886743397)
 25.0km S 187° Legananny Cross Stone* Ancient Cross (J304428)
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"Ballynahatty" | Login/Create an Account | 11 News and Comments
  
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Out Now: Ballynahatty: Excavations in a Neolithic Monumental Landscape by Andy B on Monday, 26 June 2023
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Ballynahatty: Excavations in a Neolithic Monumental Landscape
Barrie Hartwell (Editor); Sarah Gormley (Editor); Catriona Brogan (Editor); Caroline Malone (Editor)

Just six miles from the center of Belfast, County Down, on the plateau of Ballynahatty above the River Lagan, is one of Ireland’s great Neolithic henge monuments: the 200 m wide Giant’s Ring. For over a thousand years, this area was the focus of intense funerary ritual seemingly designed to send the dead to their ancestors and secure the land for the living. Scattered through the fields to the north and west of the Ring are flat cemeteries, standing stones, tombs, cists, and ring barrows – ancient monuments that were leveled by the plough when the land was enclosed in the 18th and 19th centuries.

A great 90 m long timber enclosure with an elaborate entrance and inner ‘temple’ was first observed through crop marks in aerial photos. Excavation of the site between 1990–1999 revealed a complex structure composed of over 400 postholes, many over 2 m deep. This was a building in the grand style, elegantly designed to control space, views, and access to an inner sanctum containing a platform for exposure of the dead.

By 2550 BC, the timber ‘temple’ had been swept away in a massive conflagration and the remains dismantled. Ballynahatty was one of the last great public ceremonial enterprises known to have been constructed by the Neolithic farmers in Northern Ireland, an enterprise proclaiming their enigmatic religion, ancestral rights and territorial aspirations.

This report reconstructs the remarkable building complex and explains the sophistication and organization of its construction and use. The report sets the site and excavation in the wider development of the Ballynahatty landscape and its study to the present day.

More:
https://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/bargains/british-archaeology/ballynahatty.html
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Re: Ballynahatty by SarahJayne on Monday, 27 August 2018
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Hello - this is my first ever comment so I hope that this is ok to ask. Does anyone know of any aerial photos that show the cropmarks which were part of the Ballynahatty ceremonial complex? I am particularly interested in seeing BNH 5 and BNH 6 - the timber structures
Thank you
SarahJayne
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Re: Ballynahatty Street View updated by Runemage on Monday, 07 May 2018
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https://goo.gl/maps/WdocXYGX8KQ2

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Giant's Ring by Andy B on Wednesday, 26 July 2017
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Extra description from Anne M: Large circular earthwork/ enclosure measuring over 600ft in diameter. Bank averages 60ft in width and 12ft in height. Slightly off-centre within the earthwork is a basalt dolmen with 5 uprights surrounding a polygonal chamber roofed by a single capstone. Excavations in 1917 proved it had been greatly disturbed in the past but abundant traces of cremated bone were found.
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    Re: Giant's Ring by anneharper76 on Wednesday, 26 July 2017
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    This ^ was my comment thank you Andy. The information came from Volume 1 of 'In State Care - Ancient Monuments of Northern Ireland' published 1966.
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Ancient DNA sheds light on Irish origins by Andy B on Wednesday, 24 May 2017
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Scientists have sequenced the first ancient human genomes from Ireland, shedding light on the genesis of Celtic populations.

The genome is the instruction booklet for building a human, comprising three billion paired DNA "letters". The work shows that early Irish farmers were similar to southern Europeans.

Genetic patterns then changed dramatically in the Bronze Age - as newcomers from the eastern periphery of Europe settled in the Atlantic region.

Details of the work, by geneticists from Trinity College Dublin and archaeologists from Queen's University Belfast are published in the journal PNAS.

Team members sequenced the genomes of a 5,200-year-old female farmer from the Neolithic period and three 4,000-year-old males from the Bronze Age.

Opinion has been divided on whether the great transitions in the British Isles, from a hunting lifestyle to one based on agriculture and later from stone to metal use, were due to local adoption of new ways by indigenous people or attributable to large-scale population movements.

The ancient Irish genomes show unequivocal evidence for mass migration in both cases.

More at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-35179269
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    Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland by Andy B on Wednesday, 24 May 2017
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    Neolithic and Bronze Age migration to Ireland and establishment of the insular Atlantic genome - Lara M. Cassidy, Rui Martiniano, Eileen M. Murphy, Matthew D. Teasdale, James Mallory, Barrie Hartwell, and Daniel G. Bradley

    Modern Europe has been shaped by two episodes in prehistory, the advent of agriculture and later metallurgy. These innovations brought not only massive cultural change but also, in certain parts of the continent, a change in genetic structure. The manner in which these transitions affected the islands of Ireland and Britain on the northwestern edge of the continent remains the subject of debate. The first ancient whole genomes from Ireland, including two at high coverage, demonstrate that large-scale genetic shifts accompanied both transitions. We also observe a strong signal of continuity between modern day Irish populations and the Bronze Age individuals, one of whom is a carrier for the C282Y hemochromatosis mutation, which has its highest frequencies in Ireland today.

    http://www.pnas.org/content/113/2/368.full
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Re: Ballynahatty by Anonymous on Sunday, 22 June 2014
There's a nice standing stone group in a field visible from the ring itself, which also piqued my curiosity.

A word on accessibility: it's a stiff up-hill walk from the nearest bus stop, so all but the fittest of visitors will be dependent on car (or bicycle).

This afternoon I helped a visiting group with lifting a wheelchair over the turn style, otherwise the disabled woman would have to look at the rest of the group from behind the gate.

The council still has some improvements to make there.
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Re: Ballynahatty by coldrum on Thursday, 22 April 2010
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