Cullomane East: Five Stone Circle CO118-073001

Cullomane (Colomane) Five Stone Circle is between Bantry and Drimoleague, 2km or so west of Dromore.

South is marked by a rise on the eastern slope of a dip between two hilltops that have lunar major standstillLunistice positions vary cyclically over an 18.6 year period but are fairly static for more than a year at either end of the range at steps on their outer slopes [Pic]. To both sides the luni-solar sequence then runs down through a dip and up again, terminating on high ground. North is in a dip created by the intersection of local and more distant ground [Pic].

It is just below the top of a rise and, axially to the north-east, Dromore hill peeps over the local ground to mark the most extreme northerly moon rise. If one is tall enough, it may also be possible to see the tops of Glanatnaw hill, which are solar markers. The nearby Standing Stone CO118-073002, before it fell, was on the horizon making markers for the lunar minor eighth at its tip and a sixteenth at its south base. This "outlier" is visible in the picture as it once stood and, to its right, the black rectangle marks the skyline position it occupied when seen from within the circle. This shows clearly that small changes of observer position may considerably influence the relationship between skyline and celestial object when the horizon is local.

On 3rd Oct 2012, the moon rose at its bronze age minor standstillLunistice positions vary cyclically over an 18.6 year period but are fairly static for more than a year at either end of the range position. In this Photo the moon is just clearing the horizon, having first become visible at the base of the Standing Stone, which has fallen to the north.

To the east, the equinox / cross-quarter mid­point is at intersection of near and far horizons. Much of the distant horizon is obscured by trees but is used in much the same way as from all the other sites in the area. Carrig Fadda is distant and marks the quarter-month south of the equinox while the hill to its north, considerably closer, fails to be accurate for the equinox itself. The cross-quarter falls at a break on a hillslope with its quarter-month brackets at the foot of the slope and on the hilltop. By walking the line between the circle and its outlier, slight differences betweeen the two positions may be exploited to give greater precision.

The dip at the base of the long slope has the lunar minor eighth at one end and the solstice / cross-quarter mid­point at the other. Above the dip, the winter solstice and lunar mid­point occur at either side of an obvious step. The major limit of the lunisticeLunistices are the most northerly and southerly moons of the month. The lunar equivalent of solstices - more. range may be found at another step, though a much less obvious one.

To the south-west are a pair of hills in the middle of a ridge. The eastern one is indicated by the axis of the circle and marks the winter solstice [Pic]. The dip between them is a quarter-month off the solstice and the upper limb of the half-month just makes the next hilltop. That hill's western basal step is half-way to the cross quarter which itself occurs at the notch between the end of the ridge and its terminal hill.

The lunar nodal cycle also fits nicely onto the ridge, with the most extreme southerly setting position marked by the dip in the top of Derryvahalla Hill.

Views down the valley to the west are obscured. Above that is a rather smooth slope though some slight undulations are made use of. This leads up to Spratt Hill, the top of which is a half-month south of the summer cross-quarters.

The north-west horizon is the nearest and the positions of circle and outlier give quite different and complementary solutions. Once again the line between the two monuments provides the possibility of subtle measurement.

This is one of a local group of monuments that utilise these same horizons in slightly different ways from positions about 200m apart. The nearest are:

• Standing Stone CO118-073002 c.65m to the north-east
• Boulder-Burial CO118-071003 c.200m to the west
• Anomalous Stone Group CO118-074002 c.210m to the south-east.

A further variant usage of Glanatnaw Hill to the north-east may be seen from Inchybegga Stone Circle which is 1.3km nearer to it.

A Stone Axe was found, not far from here, in 2005, See Details

Technical Notes | Top

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References

• Archaeological Survey of Ireland, record details. www.archaeology.ie/archaeological-survey-ireland
• Ó'NUALLÁIN, SEÁN 1975 The Stone Circle Complex of Cork and Kerry. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 105:83-131, No.60.
• Ó'NUALLÁIN, SEÁN 1984 A Survey of Stone Circles in Cork and Kerry. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 84c:1-77, p42, no.84.
• POWER, D. et al. 1992 Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, Volume 1: West Cork. Dublin: Stationary Office. p24:no.69.