After over 19 years we were able to come and visit this amazing place again!
Unfortunately the long waiting wasn't properly rewarded and we had to visit the site under one of the hardest rains we'd ever experienced in Ireland, therefore the quality of the visit has been heavily affected.
This area is rich in megalithic monuments, and Beaghmore is probably the most important and interesting complex in Northern Ireland. It consists of 7 stone circles, named A to G, with their own stone alignments, and 12 cairns numbered 1 to 12. It is possible that more cairns and stone circles lie under the surrounding bogland, waiting to be discovered. The complex covers an area of approximately 6,000 square metres on the southern slopes of the Sperrins.
A wide car park is provided to the east of the complex. From here there's a 60 metres long path to the complex itself.
The following description follows the position of the monuments from the entrance of the complex towards the west.
Stone Circle A: It's the first stone circle when a visitor enters the complex. It consists of 52 small stones set into the ground side to side to form a complete circle with a diameter of 11 metres. The coordinates for this page have been taken at the centre of this circle.
Stone Circle B: It's next to circle A, to the north-northwest (320°). It has 47 small stones set into the ground to form a circle of 9.80 metres of diameter.
Cairn 1: It's between Circle A and Circle B. From this small cairn and the space between the two circles depart two stone alignments towards the northeast (40°). The longer one has 13 stones, the other one has 4 bigger stones. Two rows of smaller stones run outside the first two rows, the longer one is 22.50 metres long and has 32 stones, the other one with 12 stones is 9.50 metres long.
Stone Circle C: This circle is not quite a perfect circle, it has 31 stones on a diameter of 15.50 metres.
Stone Circle D: This circle is tangent to Circle C, it has 45 stones on a diameter of 16.60 metres. The centres of the two stone circles are on a northeast-southwest (65°-245°) axis.
Cairn 1: North of the Circles C and D is the Cairn 2. From this cairn departs a stone row 39.20 metres long and with 44 small stones. Parallel to this row, on its east side, runs another 19.70 metres long row of 8 larger stones.
Stone Circle E: This is the largest of all stone circles in the complex, with a diameter of 19.30 metres with 48 stones. The inner area of this circle is filled with about 800 small stones all packed together. They are called "The Dragon's Teeth". Two rows of stones depart from this particular circle. The longer one goes towards northeast (50°) with 33 small stones and is 27.50 metres long. Parallel to this row there are three large stones. Another stone row, 6.30 metres long, goes towards southeast (110°) with 7 stones.
Cairn 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6: These small cairns lie between the pair of Circles C and D, and the Circle E.
Cairn 7: This large cairn stands south of Circle E.
Cairns 8, 9 and 12: These three cairns are south of Cairn 7 and north of Circles F and G.
Stone Circle F: This small stone circle consists of 32 stones on a diameter of 8.50 metres.
Stone Circle G: This is the smallest circle in the complex, only 8 metres in diameter with only 27 stones. Two tall stones stand like two portal stones to the circle on the southwest side. A short row of just 7 stones departs from a point between Circles F and G and goes towards the northeast (45°).
Cairn 10: This cairn lies south of the pair of Circles F and G. It has a ditch all around it.
Cairn 11: This small cairn is southeast of Circle F.
We came here for the first time on May 6th, 1998.
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