Druids Circle (Site of) — Killin (dundalk Upper By.)

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. In 1758 Wright published diagrammatic plans and sketches of two hilltop monuments; the larger monument on the main hilltop had 'rude carvings' similar to those at Newgrange (Wright 1758, pls 6, 7). This monument was destroyed by quarrying in 1826 (CLAJ 1907, 60). A decorated stone from the site, published by Evans (1939, 250-4), now lies on the top of Killin Hill at the spot marked 'Druid's Circle (site of)' on the current OS six-inch map. The nineteenth-century descriptions and surviving stone leave little doubt that this monument was a megalithic tomb of the passage-tomb class (see also LH006-015002-). Levelled monument described by Evans (1939, 250-2) as follows; 'The hill rises in two steep summits above the surrounding country, but has been so extensively quarried for limestone that it is difficult to reconstruct the original topography or to relate it to Wright's sketch which is reproduced here. The megaliths, for there were two separate structures, were "completely cleared away" during quarrying operations in the early nineteenth century. Wright's diagrammatic plan and sketch show a stone circle on each summit. The account is very confused and the writer's views freely interwoven with the narrative. The larger monument apparently occupied the higher elevation (? to the south) and consisted of an "altar or cell for sacrifice"? whence the author derives the name "Killing"?" surrounded by a circle of pyramidical stones." "The rude carvings upon the stones that form the altar and cell of the temple are such as I observed in the Cave at Grange (i.e., New Grange) ... I observed a rude sort of carving in the form of a spiral or volute . . . which may with equal propriety signify (having suffered much by time) either a Ram's Horn, a Navel, or a Rotundant Snake." The spiral, which is drawn in a manner clearly intended to reproduce the usual "pecked" technique, is illustrated by Wright (pl. VIB). His plan of the monument is given in the middle lower figure of Borlase's reproduction (fig. 1), which omits, however, a seventh upright partly filling, in Wright's original, the wide gap in the surrounding circle. A ring of boulders inside the circle of monoliths is clearly marked. This may well represent the position of a stone kerb, concealed by remnants of the cairn. Bell, writing nearly seventy years after Wright, could still speak of "a very large, fine crom leach, partially covered with a large cairn, surrounded by pillars. In the interior of the cromleach are sculptured ornaments." Mr. Henry Morris quotes a MS. in the Royal Irish Academy, which gives the following information : "This altar was placed on an artificial bank of earth on the top of the hill, and consisted of large flag-stones fixed in the ground, which formed an oblong about ten feet by four feet, and were covered with huge stones on the top : the height of the upright stones . . . was about five feet three inches. They were not placed close together, and were marked with rude figures resembling plumes on the inside face." These vague descriptions and the sketch are all we have to go on in attempting to classify the chamber. The slab roof puts a close structure analogy with New Grange out of the question; nor is there any hint of a passage. But the tall external upright shown, together with the open side of the chamber, indicate some kind of entrance arrangement. There is also visible what may be an internal partition slab, or even an isolated pillar. At least there can be no doubt, when we consider further the circle of standing stones, the engravings, and the hill-top location of the monument, that the site belongs to the round chambered cairn (passage-grave) group. What gives the engravings special interest is the occurrence of the true spiral, of which there can be little doubt. About the megalith on the lower summit even less can be said. Wright's sketch shows only four standing stones, but his plan has seven stones in a circle, placed inside a larger circle which may be interpreted as the edge of a cairn (fig. 1, bottom right). No dimensions are given'. (Herity 1974, 232; Shee-Twohig 1981, 224) See attached illustrations of Killin Hill taken from Louthiana: Book III. Plate 6r and 7r taken from Digitised version of the copy shelved at V.g.20., Department of Early Printed Books, Trinity College Dublin Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 26 August 2022