Around the Ring of Kerry

01.08.2026

The Ring of Kerry starts at the pretty town of Killorglin south of Tralee which was preparing for it's annual Puck Festival, the oldest street festival in Ireland. A mountain goat is captured, crowned as King Puck and returned to the wild after three days of festivities. While many believe the event began in the 17th Century, some associate the festival with Pagan times and the goat as a symbol of fertility.

Out the other side of town I headed west on the Wild Atlantic Way to join the coast at Kells Bay where the N70 turns inland and follows a glacial valley down towards Cahersiveen. I was looking for a left turn before the town that doubled back along the side of the valley to an area where a half buried stone with Rock Art lay beside a hedgerow.

I pulled in next to a bungalow which on first impression looked abandoned. I had an idea where Ballynahow Beg was, but my past record of finding illusive Rock Art was very hit and miss. A cursory look around the adjacent fields proved fruitless, so I headed up the lane to a farm where a tractor driver confirmed it was somewhere around the bungalow. I walked back for another look and noticed some children's toys scattered around the back yard. I knocked on the door but there was no reply and then decided to have a look in a field around the back. I checked the hedge line and was on the verge of giving up when I stumbled on a four foot flat stone poking out of the undergrowth. Straight away I could see the ancient motifs of cup and ring marks and a grid like pattern of lines. The grid lines were a rarity. I had seen them at West Agra in Yorkshire but nowhere else. Moss was spreading over the stone and I wondered how long it would be before these marks vanished from view.

On past Cahersiveen and Portmagee I arrived at the resort town of Waterville sandwiched in between Lough Currane and the Atlantic. Just beyond the town the road ascends up into farmland of rough pasture. In no time, the spikey stone row of Eightercua came into view up on a ridge on the left. A dead end lane lead up to a small hamlet of houses. My field guide stated that permission should be sought from a nearby white bungalow, but there were no single storey houses here and no obvious hint of who owned the land. A gated farm track looked as though it curved around towards the ridge, so I hopped the gate and ventured forth. The four large megaliths looked magnificent against the thunder cloud sky, leaning neatly in line like an opened fan.

When I reached the row I noticed it was at the centre of a mound with the faint trace of kerbstones at the edge. This had raised questions as to whether the structure was a burial site. The stone at the western end was the largest and had a piece missing at it’s base, making it look like it was standing on one leg. The other stones decreased in size eastwards. Standing in line with them, they appeared to be stretching up fighting for attention. Their energy was strong and it felt like the stones were feeding off the landscape, with the Lough on one side and Ballinskellig Bay on the other. Whether this was a burial site or not there seemed no better place than here to perform rituals for the sun and moon.

A scenic drive along the coast through Sneem, Parknasilla and Blackwater brought me to Kenmare with it's stone circle on the edge of town. There was a parkland feel to the site with a wooden cabin at the entrance selling souvenirs from where a short path lead to the manicured circle of fifteen well spaced stones.

Enclosed by high Leylandi trees the circle's context had changed dramatically. The stones were very smooth and rounded and at their centre was an unusual capstone, a large egg shaped boulder perched on a number of small supporting stones. This was the biggest of the circles I would visit in the south west of Ireland and one of the most visited judging by the amount of written wishes people had tied to two hawthorn trees next to it. The hawthorn is a common feature near pagan sites in Ireland and is venerated as a fairy tree, which is highly respected and should never be disturbed. I watched people come and go and was heartened by their sincerity and their recognition of the circle's sanctity as they placed their wishes on the tree.