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In July of 2000, we discovered a rather curious alignment of the Baltray stones which was to have a significant influence on our belief that the Baltray stones were an important astronomical device in prehistoric times. The alignment was discovered almost by chance when I was standing with the two stones in line with each other, to see if they pointed to anything significant. I lined up the stones so that there was a narrow wedge between them - and right in that spot I could see a television mast, which I knew was on the ridge near Fourknocks. With the stones in that position, I could see that at the very eastern limb of the smaller standing stone, there was a mound with a tower on it on the Fourknocks ridge. |
| The above image shows how the alignment was discovered, with the very eastern edge of the smaller stone (foreground) marking the location of the "tower" mound. |
| This "tower" mound is located on the same ridge as the mound of Fourknocks. It has a six-sided tower, known as a folly, located on its peak. But the mound itself is probably of ancient origin, and given its proximity to the nearby Fourknocks mounds, is probably Neolithic. |
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The
"tower" mound near Fourknocks.
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We examined what relationship the Baltray stones might have with this mound, and considered other alignments between sites which we knew of in doing so. For instance, the passage of Newgrange, which is oriented towards the position of sunrise on Winter Solstice, is also oriented to the mound of Fourknocks, even though the latter cannot be seen from the former. On consulting a detailed Ordnance Survey Map of the area, we discovered that the "tower" mound shared an interesting position in relation to Rockabill, the island already strongly associated with Baltray through astronomy and mythology. |
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To our astonishment, we found that the "tower" mound was located precisely Due West of Rockabill island, on an elevated site overlooking the sea. This meant that there was a possible, or probable, link between the two sites and the rising sun on the Vernal and Autumnal Equinoxes. It was an amazing moment of discovery which brought with it a whole series of questions about the ancient people, and a new avenue of research. We confirmed that the Irish Sea is indeed visible from the top of the tower mound, but modern buildings and a thicket of trees prevented us from seeing Rockabill directly from the site when we visited just days after making the alignment discovery at Baltray. |
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A
beautiful photograph of the summer sun over the tower site at Fourknocks.
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We could only conclude from the evidence at hand that the Baltray standing stones and the tower site near Fourknocks formed part of a complicated astronomical system, and that the ancient people who used it were able to pinpoint the exact days of Winter Solstice sunrise and also Equinoctial sunrise using the island of Rockabill as a natural landscape marker. We did not, however, have an opportunity to observe sunrise on the Autumn Equinox from the tower site and will have to wait until March 2001 to see if the phenomenon can still be observed today. |
