Drombeg Stone Circle
Drombeg circle · The Druid's Altar
Late Bronze Age·Cork-Kerry recumbent circle tradition·🇮🇪 County Cork, Munster, Ireland
About
About Drombeg Stone Circle
Perfect recumbent stone circle (Cork-Kerry type) near Glandore, West Cork: 17 sandstone stones 9.3 m diameter with axial recumbent (1.9 m long) on southwest opposite two tall portals to 1.8 m, graded heights — classic recumbent-stone tradition. Aligns to midwinter sunset over hill notch. Inside, central flat slab marks cremation pit. Adjacent are hut circle and fulacht fiadh (burnt mound), forming Bronze Age ritual-domestic complex. Excavated 1957–58 yielding cremated youth and pottery.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Midwinter alignment deliberate to notch
Theories
- 01Recumbent circles as Bronze Age communal ceremonial keeping recumbent myth
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 1100–800 BCE
- Period
- Late Bronze Age
- Culture
- Cork-Kerry recumbent circle tradition
- Purpose
- Recumbent circle ritual with solar alignment
- Abandoned
- Iron Age
- Rediscovered
- Excavated 1957–58 (E.M. Fahy)
- Excavation
- Excavated
c. 1100–800 BCE
Initial construction
c. 1471 CE
Major expansion
On the ground
Structures & features
51.5644° N · 9.0873° W · 60 m · 3 mapped features
Recumbent axial stone
recumbent stone1.9 m long recumbent on SW arc opposite portals
51.5644° N · 9.0873° WFulacht fiadh
fulachtBurnt mound trough 40 m west of circle
51.5643° N · 9.0876° WHut circle
hut circleAssociated hut enclosure 10 m NW
51.5645° N · 9.0874° W
Gallery