Bonane Heritage Park - Information & Photographs

Regular readers of this site may have detected a certain scepticism on my part towards some of the more over-blown claims of archeologists. If so, it will it will come as no surprise to you to learn that I have some reservations about the Bonane Heritage Park

Despite this, I must point out that I think it is is great that antiquities are recognised and preserved, and that it is important that places like Bonane exist, to inform and engage with the public. It stands or falls on its ability to do so.

So after passing a rather tall thin model of a Crannog by the entrance and paying the entrance fee, what does the visitor get? Well to start with there is the long stiff climb up the side of the hill to get to the start of the surprisingly short trail around the antiquities.

The first of these, and by any measure the best, is a small Ring Fort. Compared to Stague, Cahergal or Leacanabuaile it is unspectacular, but is probably more typical of the genre.

Then we come to a stone circle made up of remarkable small stones. Normally in this area they are about man height, but few in this circle came up to my waist.

According to the web site the Bronze Age circle "was associated with druidical rituals". Shame that the Druids did not appear until the late Iron Age, but still.

Furthermore we are asked to believe that it was built in this spot because once every eighteen years the moon rises over a square cairn on the horizon. Given the life expectancy in the Bronze Age, that would be a once in a life time event for most people.

After passing an old famine house, next up is a square arrangement of stones that we are assured is a Fulacht Fiadh. It may well be, but the roots of the trees that were grown in this area for the past thirty years have probably destroyed any archeology.

And finally we have a Bullaun Stone. As the web site says "Normally, the bullauns face upward and this example is unusual in that the bullaun is on the side of the stone" - I'll say no more.

Yes, it important to engage with the public. I'm just not sure that woolly mysticism and dodgy tails of Druids is the right way to go about it.

Comments

Rachel12/07/2011

I'm not sure when you visited Bonane Heritage Park and as a sceptic your comments are, by definition, quite caustic. However you seem to be missing the bigger picture; the park is merely a boundary around part of a community that is rich in archaeological sites. Remember that unlike England, land ownership is very different in Ireland and so antiquities found on land belonging to other people isn't accessible - there is no assumed right of way. If you take Bonane as a whole what it represents is that the area as a community has been settled for thousands of years, at least as far back as the Neolithic era all the way through to modern times. Bronze Age man was, by necessity, very mobile and moved around to make the most of available resources be it farming, fishing, harvesting etc and so the antiquities at the park show that in spite of moving around, they came back again and the likes of the stone circle represent ownership of an area of land. Stone circles in Ireland are rarely spectacular in size like many of those found in England or the UK as a whole. This is because their purpose is different. The stone circle at Bonane Heritage Park is there as a marker for a small community and this is demonstrated by the boulder burial at its centre that would have been used as a burial area for distinguished members or heads of the household. You are right however about the referral to Druidical ceremony etc but it is worth bearing in mind that as far as it goes, the park is in its infancy and is a community project where the people are learning as they go along. The other issue with the area is that the land was used by Coillte as forestry and so some of the stones have been toppled by machinery - surely correcting their placement would be a misrepresentation? As for the lunar alignment over the alter stone - astronomy was a key belief for many civilizations; the Rolls of Butter bullaun stone near the cemetery is actually in direct alignment with the constellation of Orion so the meaning for the rising of the sun and the lunar calendar played a major role in the life cycle of Bronze Age man - they didn't have a calendar and so the position of the sun at certain times of the year was the best indicator for when to to prepare the ground for sowing, when to move on for fishing, when to harvest etc. The Fulach Fiadh would most likely have been used as a 'knees up' for the returning community and in its complete state was probably used as a type of sauna where much frivolity and frolicking would have taken place!! The ringfort - not to be confused with a hill fort - is actually quite generous in its proportions and on closer inspection it can be seen that rather than being an earthen bank, its constructed of stone, quite an undertaking in its day. There is always a lack of tangible items in areas like this because the settlers that followed would have re-used and recycled items that were already there and so anything that shows habitation is lost from digging, machinery and so on but this is not uncommon and it is very rare to find pottery, tools and the like in areas such as this.If nothing else, how could you not appreciate the peace and tranquility of the park. I come from a big city in England and relish the fact that there are still corners of the globe not too far from home where I can still get some solitary respite and to be honest, community is something that died years ago in parts of England so I appreciate the efforts when people come together to make something that will hopefully endure.

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