What is recorded here
Five granite boulders still stood on Tawin Island in 1992, enclosing a shallow oval where a missing stone may have lain. By 2008 the circle had vanished, its boulders broken or carried north to build coastal defences against the sea. What remained was a flat grazed place, remembering stones that people had taken for walls while the shoreline kept taking back what it wanted.
On Tawin Island, in grazing land close to the foreshore. Holt (1911-12, 249) recorded a slight elevation that was partly enclosed by the arms of a large shallow pool, and on which there were a number of granite boulders that may have formed part of an irregular stone circle. He was informed that 'the appearance of a circle was more marked, before other boulders of the series were broken up for building.' On inspection in May 1992, five irregularly shaped granite boulders (max. H 1.7m; Wth 2.4m; T 1.8m) enclosed a roughly oval area (30m NE-SW; 26m NW-SE); a slight depression in the interior at N may have marked the socket of a boulder that had been removed. Two of the boulders were recumbent but one of them was not set into the ground; one other boulder also did not appear to be set. On re-inspection in May 2008 no visible surface trace of the boulders survived. According to local information, large boulders were removed from this area in the late 1990s to build up coastal defences along the shoreline to the N. Not precisely located.
Compiled by: Olive Alcock
Date of upload: 13 December 2019
Likely dating to the Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, the stone circle may have had ceremonial or astronomical significance. No specific folklore is recorded, but its coastal location suggests a possible connection to maritime rituals or territorial markers.
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
Places near here
LisheenFairy fort / earthen ringfort · 308 yd
Tawin IslandIsland · 729 yd
Enclosure in Tawin WestEnclosure · 761 yd
Glasheen IslandIslet · 1.3 mi
bridgebridge · 1.3 mi
Ardfry PointHeadland · 1.5 mi
Ballyloughane BeachBeach / strand · 3.5 mi