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Anciently sacred because horizon shape & cyclical celestial patterns are in useful harmony at this place.

Orange lines mark the annual solar round. Lunistice positions over the 18.6 year lunar nodal cycle are blue. More about the Solar CalendarMore about the Lunar Calendar

mega-what / ancient sacred places / Ireland, West Cork, Kealkill

Cappanaboul: Multiple Stone Circle & Boulder-Burial CO105-029001/2

NGR 10340/05324 (503409 ITM 553233 / 51.72313, -9.39811) [Googlemap]

Trajectories 1200BCE. Tap/Click pics for big ones.
Panoramic view with luni-solar trajectories from Cappanaboul Stone Circle, Cork, Ireland. Cappanaboul Stone Circle and its internal Boulder-Burial are between Bantry and Kealkill. Ten stones (two fallen) remain of a probable thirteen, with the missing stones all in the northern half. The 10.5m diameter circle's axis is east-west and the boulder-burial is approximately central.

South is at the right-hand end of an extremely local highpoint [Pic].

North is marked by a dip between distant mountains [Pic].

NE from Cappanaboul Stone Circle, Cork, Ireland.

The north-east offers an excellent and fairly distant horizon with markers for just about everything one could wish for.

E from Cappanaboul Stone Circle, Cork, Ireland. The east and south-east are not quite so good and very local ground begins to cut the distant horizon. This is of course extremely position sensitive.

SE from Cappanaboul Stone Circle, Cork, Ireland. The far ridge continues on into lunar and winter regions but is just obscured. However it is easy to see over this local obstacle by standing on top of any of: the boulder-burial, the axial stone or a low stone on the north side of the circle. All three being flat-topped and easy to climb on. The last two are described by Ó'Nualláin as apparently broken but their usefulness is quite possibly a deliberate feature.

SW from Cappanaboul Stone Circle, Cork, Ireland. Local higher ground also obscures more distant horizons to the south-west but the circle has been sited so that the hilltop is useful. There are two Standing Stones on the other side of this hill:

CO105-071 is fallen and perhaps 250m away on the ridge top.

CO105-027 is lower down and further west, about 700m away.

W from Cappanaboul Stone Circle, Cork, Ireland. The distant western horizon is framed by a nearer dip. The edges are a half-month from the cross-quarters. The equinox is on a hilltop in the middle and the lowest dip is half-way to the winter cross-quarters.

NW from Cappanaboul Stone Circle, Cork, Ireland. To the north-west the theme is lunisticeLunistices are the most northerly and southerly moons of the month. The lunar equivalent of solstices - more. cycle spanning the hill. Starting with summer cross-quarters in the dip and having the lunar mid­point on the hilltop.

This is an interesting and unusual stone circle. Its location is rather unorthodox in that, while the north-east is excellent, the remainder of the horizon seems to give less astronomical correlation than is normal. The two nearby Standing Stones provide additional functionality and there can be little doubt that they were all erected at about the same time, by the same people.

Nearer to the coast, 3.3km to the west-south-west at Dromkeal are Circle CO105-003 & Possible Boulder-Burial CO105-053. They are probably the first step of an inland penetration by both groups of people. A further 2.6km up the valley to the north-east is another Multiple Stone Circle / Boulder-Burial combination at Breeny More.

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