The Tipperary Antiquarian

Was the stone known as Cloch a bhile at Lough Gur a symbolic echo of the world tree (as put forward by Michael Dames) or in reality was it an inauguration site of the medieval period? It could of course be both. Copyright OSI However in The Archaeology of Lough Gur pg 334, Rose M. Cleary argues that the Cloch a bhile may have been used as an inauguration site of Munster Kings and later the Fitzgeralds who along with legendary Gearoid Iarla became "more Irish than the Irish themselves". In 1573 Gerald fitz James Fitzgerald was released from jail following the 1st Desmond Rebellion in Ireland. He made a daring escape while under curfew in Dublin with the help of Rory Oge O'More and Piers Grace and returned to Munster. " On his return to Munster, Gerald received widespread support. 'His wife met him at Bealadrohid and they continued to Lough Gur' (McCormack 2005, 132). Edwards (2016, 342) records that when the earl arrived at Lough Gur 'he wa...

From 5th February 2015. I was treated to a beautiful near-Imbolc sunset at the Grange Lios or Circle B at Lough Gur in Co. Limerick. The Grange Lios is normally regarded as the biggest stone circle in Ireland and at Lough Gur is one of the most interesting and impressive megalithic landscapes in the country. I also discovered something very interesting from my observations - on the cross quarter day the shadow of the "horned" stones that mark the cross quarter, slowly cast a shadow that almost ends up touching the "entrance" stones. It didn't touch them exactly as the tree and the house were in the way but may have done so in antiquity. The cross-quarter sunset was first proposed by famous archaeoastronomy Boyle-Sommerville who was a cousin of Windle who carried out a survey of the antiquities in the area in the early 1900s. The shadows of the horned stones creeping across the circle towards the entrance.  Link to my origi...