Pre-historic....

After a long day of work and errands Dee and I decided to head out and explore around our area. We are still finding amazing things near us even though we have lived here for almost a year. Well, we found a breathtaking castle and explored a ruined 12th century abbey, but the discovery we made in a field was by far the best. We saw it on a map... But didn't know exactly where it was until we drove along and saw the large hill with a stone circle right in the middle of the field. We climbed the fence and walked around this prehistoric site. The circle was made up of large standing stones (about 4 feet tall) in groups of threes and single stones marking North, South, East, and West. It didn't take us long to discover a second and third circle in other fields. It is amazing to think that around 4,000BC Celts were creating these circles and were mapping out the stars and seasons. You just never know what you will find when exploring in Ireland.
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The picture below is of an Ogam stone that we discovered not too long ago. These pre-historic stones show an ancient form of writing. The dashes on the stone are in fact different letters that spell out a message.... This one marks a grave, indicating that this was a pre-Christian holy site. The Normans built a church here when the Irish were converted to Christianity. Local legend says that the whole in the stone was drilled much later and was used for taking oaths. A person (or a couple of people) would stand here on the graves of their ancestors and in front of the house of God and would "swear of God" by touching fingers through the stone.