Archaeological monuments of Wicklow

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• Athgreany means “Field of the Sun” and our ancestors dedicated this space to the observation of the Sun’s shadows aligning the boulders to the major solar events, Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice and Autumn Equinox. The Solar year was further divided to mark the halfway points between major solar events, giving cross quarter days of Imbolc, Beltaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain. The stone circle at Athgreany is a megalithic calendar. We are indebted to the author and tireless researcher, the late Helen O’Clery, for the fascinating discoveries she made in the 1970’s. Helen Gallagher O’Clery, originally from Stranorlar, Co. Donegal, living in Tallaght in the 1970’s, spent 3 years visiting the site to take photoghaphs of Sunrise and Sunset on and around those key dates. She deduced that one was a Pilot Stone from which to observe the shadows at Sunrise and there was another on the opposite side of the circle from which to observe the Sunset shadows. She observed the shadow from the appropriate stone lenghtening, until, at its longest travelled through the centre of the circle towards her viewing position. This happened at the 8 festival dates. This research was published by Al Morrison as “Athgreany stone circle-the stones of time” I believe the book is out of print and unavailable.

  By Maria O'hara (22/12/2015)

• Great start; I would like the captions to be a larger font size

  By David walsh (07/12/2012)