Just off the main road from Hollywood to Baltinglass stands this beautiful stone circle. To my knowledge the site has never been excavated but probably dates to the later part of the Bronze Age. The circle is signposted as the ‘Piper’s Stones’, it gained this title after the legend built up that the fourteen boulders were once dancers turned to stone for disrespecting the Sabbath. Outside of the stone circle stands another boulder on its own, this was said to be the piper who led the dancers to their terrible fate. Throughout Ireland and indeed most of the world ancient history and beliefs around such places has been obscured and adapted to suit the desires of the Catholic Church, this site was given its name as a way of showing people the dangers of not honouring the Sabbath. The stone circle is at the top of a small hill about 200 metres from the signpost. The circle itself is about 28 metres in diameter with some of the stones measuring up to 1.8metres in height. It seems that the circle may have appeared very different in prehistoric times as evidence suggest that some of the stones were moved in the past for what will remain an unknown reason. There are suggestions that the stone circle may have been used for sun worship, a lot of the stones seem to be surrounded at the bottom by a ring of yellow/red quartz which radiate in the sunlight. The Piper’s Stone itself also has several deep carvings/‘cup-marks’ on it. This site is well worth a visit, and the view both from the centre of the stone circle and also from the Piper’s Stone itself give a hint of what may once have occurred here.

GPS: 53.07197, -6.61273