Ravensdale Stones

I went tramping through the woods in Ravensdale Park lately. The park is near Jonesborough but just over the border in County Louth. I wanted to see the standing stone that was marked on my Ordnance Survey map. But what I found was a whole gang of stones, arranged in a rough circle.




You might think I'd be delighted to have found more than I had bargained for, but actually this was something rather less. A single ancient standing stone has a gravitas that these stones lacked. My main problem is that I doubt their vintage. Some of Ireland's standing stones have been in place for millennium — that is a vital part of their power. But these stones did not have that air about them. I think it was because the ring was of too small a diametre. The stones' placement lacked the scale and drama of authentic, ancient, stone rings. These have too strong a niff of the ornamental about them.

If any reader knows anything about the stone ring in Ravensdale Park then I would be very glad of the information.