What is recorded here

Five stones circle an empty chamber on a Cork ridge, but one is missing and another has shifted, breaking the shape. The remaining stones stand one to two metres tall around a space barely three and a half metres wide, small enough for a handful of people to occupy together. They are not a grand monument or a complete trap. They are a damaged address, still pointing toward the Boggeragh Mountains and leaving a hole where one stone used to be.

On top of low ridge, in rolling pasture, in N foothills of Boggeragh Mountains. Circle incomplete; W side stone is missing and E entrance stone appears displaced. Orthostats are 0.8m to 2.2m L, 0.25m to 0.6m T and 0.9m to 1.1m H. Internal measurement along main axis, aligned NE-SW, is c. 3.4m.(O Nualláin 1984a, 30, no. 50) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Likely dating to the Neolithic or early Bronze Age, the Glenleigh Stone Circle may have been used for ritual or ceremonial purposes, common to such sites in prehistoric Britain. The incomplete circle and displaced entrance stone suggest possible later disturbance or modification, though local folklore sometimes associates such features with ancient feasts or fairy gatherings.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.