Lios na Gráinsí | |
Location of site in Ireland | |
Alternative name | Fort of the Grange |
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Location | Lough Gur, County Limerick, Ireland |
Coordinates | 52°30′51″N 8°32′31″W / 52.514238°N 8.5418895°W |
Height | 4 metres (13 ft) (highest stone) |
Management | National Monument Service |
Reference no. | 247 |
Grange stone circle (Irish: Lios na Gráinsí, meaning 'Fort of the Grange') is a stone circle in County Limerick, Ireland. It is located 300m west of Lough Gur, 4 km north of Bruff.[1] The Limerick-Kilmallock road is nearby.
Features
The largest stone is Rannach Chruim Duibh (Crom Dubh's Division) [2] and is over 4m high and weighs 40 tonnes. The entrance of the circle is aligned with the rising sun at the summer solstice. A short distance to the north-north east of the main stone circle, is a second smaller circle, also constructed of large stones. To the north of this is a large leaning standing stone.[1] Around 1/3rd of the site has been excavated with old pottery and human remains being found within it, during the summer solstice many people, including druids meet up there, it's still a very sacred place to many people. On Wednesday, 17 August 2022, there was a remarkable discovery of carvings on one of the stones of Grange Stone Circle at Lough Gur, County Limerick, by Ken Williams, a leading Irish archaeological photographer. He has developed methods of lighting stones to photograph them to maximum effect and he has found a number of new carvings over the years in this way. He was returning to check the stones at Grange Stone Circle for carvings as part of his current research, people still leave money and crystals there.