Beaghmore Stone Circles

Beaghmore Stone Circles – Not just one stone circle but 7 stone circles!
Constructed with 1,269 stones and 12 cairns dating back to c.2,000-1,200BC. Impressive!

Beaghmore is a complex of early Bronze Age megalithic stone circles and cairns, on the edge of the Sperrin Mountains.

Beaghmore Stone circles were discovered during peat cutting by George Barnett in the late 1930s when 1,269 stones were uncovered and partially excavated in 1945-1949 and taken into stage care.

The site consists of 7 stone circles. All of the rings are associated with cairns and a stone row runs towards these cairns.

The site was excavated again in 1965. Investigation of the site and the surrounding bog indicate that the area was occupied from Neolithic times through the Bronze Age.

The stone circles and cairn (ancient burial ground) are attributed to the earlier part of the Bronze Age c. 2,000–1,200 BC.

The full extent of the complex may not yet be fully revealed and further stones and cairns may still lie hidden in the adjacent peat.

Hearths and deposits of flint tools were discovered and have been carbon dated to 2900-2600B.

It is possible that Neolithic occupation and cultivation preceded the erection of burial cairns and ceremonial circles and alignments: some irregular lines and heaps of boulders resembling field-fences or field-clearance may predate the ritual structures.

At some stage peat started to form over the site, and it may conceivably be that the cairns and rows were erected in a futile propitiatory attempt to restore fertility to the soil by attracting back the fading sun.