In total there are thirty-eight national monuments around Lough Gur. The Grange Stone Circle was a ritual site. The people that made the stone circle are called Neolithic people and they came about 3,500 BC. They were under 5ft tall and the women were even smaller, they had brown hair and they were long headed. They were farmers and they brought their cattle across the sea by boat. They had a life expectancy of only under 30, because there food wasn't nutritious enough fort them to live longer.
1200 years later the Bronze Age people arrived. They were fair headed, blue eyed and they were taller then the Neolithic people. They brought metal, the horse, bekar pottery that is a fine pottery and they brought the stone circle culture. These people wore lots of jewellery. There are 113 standing stones in the circle. On the summer and Winter solstice the sun shinesthrough the entrance and out the other side through two stones that make the shape of a "V". The diameter of the circle is 50 metres and the circumference is about 150 metres. The circle is 5ft higher then the field that surrounds it. They used the circle for ceremonys and rituals and it was also used as an astronomic calendar. There wasn't any trace of human sacrifice in the circle. Sherds of pottery were found underneath the stones, it is believed that after celebrations they smashed the bottles against the stones as a tradition. In the next field there is a smaller circle and this is thought to be the sun and the moon. If you put your forehead against the stones and push, then close your eyes and keep pushing you are supposed to get energy. The three stars that you can see in the stone circle are Capella, Deneb and Betelgeuse.
New Church
Lough Gur is in the shape of a horseshoe. People lived on Knockadoon, the island
on the lake and grew grain, reared cattle and built houses. House site A is
on the island and is the most important and oldest. To lower the level of the
lake they cut a channel by the house and drained the water out of the lake,
by doing this they found things at the bottom of the lake. The landlord Desalis
who was the ambassador for the Pope in the court of Georges in England. His
daughter Amelia Desalis went to Rome and fell in love with an Italian boy, but
she was sent back to Dublin where she fell in love with another boy. The Italian
boy then decided to become a priest and then he went all the way and became
a Pope. He was Pope Pius the 10th. In 1979 they began restoring New Church and
they found the Patten and the Chalice. Captain Bailey was buried in the church.
During World War 1 a German submarine torpedoed off the roof of the church.
Lough Gur Wedge Tomb
It is a Wedge Shape Gallery Grave. It is a megalithic Tomb. The people were
cremated and food and pottery were put in with them for there next life. There
was a pile of bones found by the tomb. They were belonging to eight adults and
five children.
Kate Fleming 5th class