Leitry Lower: Stone Row CO119-029

South is marked by a hill within a dip [Pic].

North is marked by a dip in a hilltop [Pic].

This is a low, three-stone row with the largest stone south-west, tallest in the middle and the smaller north-east stone leaning considerably. Axially to the north-east, Pookeen hilltop marks the lunar limit. There are two steps on its south flank, the first is the lunar minor eighth and the second is summer cross-quarter.

Then Milane hill, with its several humps and bumps largely concealed by forestry, occupies the central part of the year.

The south-eastern lunisticeLunistices are the most northerly and southerly moons of the month. The lunar equivalent of solstices - more. range runs from a slight break on the slope of Milane Hill down to its intersect with further horizons and on to the first hilltop which marks the lunar limit.

The south-west skyline is largely obscured by vegetation although the top of Mt Kid can just about be seen through it: Ruggles gives -25.7° for this. My best estimate of the south-west axis was az 225°, dec -26.3° while Ruggles gives a range of -27.4° to -25.4° (mean -26.4°), this is the lunar sixteenth on the major side of mid-cycle.

To the north-west, the hill at Garranes North is very useful with, among other things, the cross-quarter / solstice mid­point on its south top and the lunar major eighth on its north top.

• This low, three stone row is morphologically very similar to a group of five rows south of Bantry, the nearest of which is Cullomane West, 13km to the west-south-west.
• Much closer and much bigger is Cullenagh Stone Row, 3km north-east (31°)

Technical Notes | Top

• Archaeological Survey of Ireland, record details. www.archaeology.ie/archaeological-survey-ireland
• LYNCH, ANN 1982 Astronomy and Stone Alignments in S.W. Ireland. In Archaeoastronomy in the Old World, edited by D. Heggie, pp.205-213. Cambridge: University Press.
• Ó'NUALLÁIN, SEÁN 1988 Stone Rows in the South of Ireland. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 88c:179-256, p236, no.49.
• POWER, D. et al. 1992 Archaeological Inventory of County Cork, Volume 1: West Cork. Dublin: Stationary Office. p37, no.158.
• RUGGLES, C.L.N. 1999 Astronomy in Prehistoric Britain and Ireland. Newhaven & London: Yale University Press. CKR75.
• RUGGLES, C.L.N. 1996 Stone Rows of Three or More Stones in South-West Ireland. Archaeoastronomy 21 (Journal of the History of Astronomy xxvii) S55-S71.
• RUGGLES, C.L.N. & Burl, H.A.W. 1995 Astronomical Influences on Prehistoric Ritual Architecture in North-Western Europe: The Case of the Stone Rows. Vistas in Astronomy 39:517-528. Oxford: Elsevier Science Ltd.