Giants Ring, Belfast

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The Giant's Ring is a henge monument at Ballynahatty, near Shaw's Bridge, Belfast, Northern Ireland. It consists of a circular enclosure, 200 m in diameter, surrounded with an 4 m high earthwork bank with five entrances, and a small neolithic passage grave slightly off-centre. The tomb is believed to date from ca. 3000 BC, and the bank slightly later. It can be viewed plainly using Google Earth at 54 deg 32 min North and 5 deg 56 min West.

In the 18th Century the site was used for horse racing. ^[1] A ritual site adjacent to the henge was excavated in the 1990s by Barrie Hartwell of the Queen's University of Belfast. At the moment the site has ASAI status (Area of Significant Archaeological Interest). ^[2]

[edit] External links

• Photos of the Giant's Ring
• The Prehistory of the Giant's Ring and Ballynahatty Townland
• Aerial photograph of the Giant's Ring taken in 1984
• The Giant's Ring on Google Maps

[edit] Notes and references