What is recorded here

Cloghalegaun is a broken stone circle on a Galway hilltop, watching the inner reaches of Streamstown Bay through seasons of wind and rain. Two schist stones still stand aligned northeast to southwest, one triangular and one rectangular, while a thin outlying monolith lies nine metres away with a smaller companion beside it. The gap between standing and fallen stone invites imagination: perhaps people once gathered there to mark the sky, tell stories, or leave offerings before the circle lost the majority of its markers. What remains is enough to show that the hill was not empty, even when the full shape has faded from view.

On the summit of a hill overlooking the inner reaches of Streamstown Bay to SW. Two stones are aligned NE-SW and 1.75m apart. Both stones are of schist. The N stone is triangular in plan (H 1.1m) and S stone is rectangular (H 2.1m). A thin outlying monolith, irregular in plan (H 0.8m), lies 9m due SE of N stone. Lying beside it is another stone, also of schist (0.7m by 0.4m). Gibbons and Higgins (1988c) interpret this as a possible stone circle; it also has affinities with four-poster monuments. (Ormsby 1914; Kinahan 1872, 12; Ó Nualláin 1988, 197) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). Date of upload: 05 August 2010

Likely dating to the Bronze Age, the Cloghalegaun standing stones may have functioned as a ritual or territorial marker, possibly aligned with celestial or landscape features. Their placement on a hilltop suggests a symbolic or ceremonial role, though specific folklore or use remains unrecorded.

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