Situated in the beautiful Ravensdale Forest, a mixed woodland that rises towards the Black Mountain, stands this unusual stone circle. This stone circle is interesting as there is some debate whether it is the genuine article or a 18^th century Folly. What is certain is the discovery or the construction of the circle are both ascribed to Lord Clermont. What primarily caused confusion is that multiple stone circles were found at the same time, two of which were believed to have been situated on Lord Clermont’s property, one at Dromiskin and perhaps this one at Ravensdale. From what I can ascertain a lot of the doubt appears to come from H.G Tempest in an article in the Journal of the County Louth Archaeological and History Society from 1942 (Vol 10, No.2). I will go through the three reasons he gave for this in his article. Firstly he states, “its smallness – 22 feet by 13 feet internally”, personally I feel this does not stand, I have visited several stone circles around the country that are smaller in size than the one at Ravensdale, Uragh in Kerry and Kealkill in Cork to name just two. His second reasoning is due to the ‘insecure setting’, this insecure setting into the ground could be for a multitude of reasons ie how they were found, were they reset when found if fallen? Lord Clermont said the entire circle was covered with soil so some resetting must have taken place. His third reason is that they are not mentioned in 1837 Ordnance Survey Maps nor in Ordnance Survey letters, I am very confused by this one as he mentions the date on which it was discovered by Lord Clermont as 1840 earlier in the article which obviously negates this reason.

A Doctor Francis Crosslé had previous stated in the same journal that he had been brought by Lord Clermont to see the stone circle in 1906 who told him that he had found the circle when he tripped over the top of one of the stones when out shooting. He told Crosslé that he uncovered the largest stone and then the rest, “which the lapse of centuries had covered over with the exception of the top of the one stone at the lower margin of the circle”.

There are many sources that seem to confuse this circle with several others and also the ongoing belief that it may have been created as a folly due to how the stones are positioned. In regard to this confusion even the National Monuments Website is uncertain stating it may be either. The truth of the matter is probably lost to antiquity however what is certain is that the setting in which it is situated is truly fantastic and Ravensdale is a very under visited woodland, possibly due to its positioning so close to the border with the north, well worth the quick pitstop if heading towards Belfast/Newry.

GPS: 54.07802, -6.34522