THE BALLYNOE STONE CIRCLE Excavations by A. E. van Giffen, 1937-1938 W. Groenman-van Waateringe & ]. ]. Butler':­ with comments by G. Eogan & M. ]. O'Kelly CONTENTS r. INTRODUCTION 2. BACKGROUND TO THE EXCA VA TION 3. THE BALLYNOE STONE CIRCLE IN LITERATURE 4 THE EXCA V A TIONS 4.r. The excavation in 1937 - a report by A. E. van Giffcn 4.2. Description of the monument 4.2. r. General remarks 4.2.2. The stone chambers 4.2.3. The baetyls 4.2.4. The sections 4.2.5. The peristalith (stones 1-29), the main circle and the outliers 4.3. Crcmation pockets 5. THE FINDS 5.r. Locarion and registration of the finds 5.2. Arrifacts 5.3. Bones 6. INTERPRETATION 7. DISCUSSTON 7. r. Comments by Dr. G. Eogan 7.2. Answcr to Dr. Eogan 7.3. Comments by Professor M. ]. O'Kelly 7+ Answer to Professor O'Kclly 7.5. Suggestions for thc completion of Van Giffen's excavations 8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9. NOTES 10. LITERATURE ,,. Respectively Albert Egges van Giffen lnstituut voor Prac- en Protohistorie (!.P.P.), Univcrsity of Amsterdam and Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut (B.A.I.), Statc Univcrsity, Groningen and I.P.P" University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 73 W. GROENMAN-VAN WAATERINGE & J. J. BUTLER l. INTRODUCTION of excavating the Ballynoe Stone Circle had al­ ready been discussed at that meeting. In the years 1937 and 1938 the late Professor In l 9 37 the plans were realized. Throughout his A. E. van Giffen conducted the excavation of the two campaigns, Van Giffen was constantly assisted megalithic monument known as the Ballynoe Stone by Miss Gaffikin, whom he had asked to aet 'as Circle, Ballynoe Townland, Co. Down, with finan­ secretary to transact all negotiations and business cial support from the Ministry of Finance, Ancient matters in connection with the excavation of Bally­ Monuments and Historical Buildings of the Gov­ noe Stone Circle'.2 ernment of Northern Ireland. The excavations took place from 20 to 27th The obligation to publish the results of the ex­ September 1937 and from 7 to l6th June 1938. cavation, incurred by the acceptance of this finan­ From correspondence, it appears that Van Giffen cial support, was never met by Van Giffen, despite considered yet a third campaign to be necessary. repeated requests. He only sent a couple of prelim­ In a letter dated lsth January 1939 Miss Gaffikin inary reports to the Ministry. One of these follows wrote Van Giffen: 'What remains to be done at below (4.I.). Ballynoe? As far as I can remember we have to Professor M. ]. O'Kelly, University College, test for the surrounding ditch, and you said you Cork, pointed out the importance of this excava­ wanted to look for postholes in the area between tion for Irish prehistory in l 97 l to the first named the horseshoe of stones and the cairn.' author, who then approached Van Giffen as to the The excavations were directed personally by Van possibility of working out the excavation results Giffen, with the assistance of Miss Gaffikin, a jointly. However, Van Giffen himself had already friend of hers, Mrs. Anderson, and the latter's son, approached the second author with a similar re­ John. In addition there were some ten labourers quest. under a foreman. Contrary to his usual practice in Gathering the pertinent material (correspond­ the Netherlands, Van Giffen did not work with his ence, day notes, drawings, photos, findsl and pre­ own foreman/draughtsman, so he himself made the liminary reports) took longer than anticipated, and plan, the photographs and the day notes. The sec­ the death of Van Giffen in April 1973 brought the tions were possibly drawn by Miss Gaffikin and plans of joint publication to a close. This must Mrs. Anderson, who in any case 'finished' them. necessarily be reflected in the publication, but we have attempted to present Van Giffen's own ob­ 3. THE BALLYNOE STONE CIRCLE IN servations at the time, giving his original LITERATURE documentation as far as possible. Much to our regret, it proved technically impossible to repro­ To date only short reports have appeared con­ duce the original field drawings (colour pencil on cerning Van Giffen's excavations at Ballynoe. Since millimeter paper). In re-drawing the plan and the death has robbed us of the assistance of both Van sections for this publication (fig. 2-3), H. Praam­ Giffen and Miss Gaffikin in our reconstruction, stra has tried to reproduce as faithfully as possible and these short reports were written either by Van the information contained in the field drawings. Giffen or in consultation with him, they will be We hope that it will not be our interpretation quoted in ful!. which dominates in this publication. They are, in ord er : l. By E. Estyn Evans 111 PPS 3, 1937, pp. 4 5 3- 2. BACKGROUND TO THE EXCAV ATION 4 5 4. 'Ballynoe Townland, Co. Down. Dr. Van Giffen Van Giffen, traveiling in Ireland from 2oth July began excavation on an important site known as the Stone Circle. A ring of standing stones, 1 oo feet in dia­ to l 8th August l 9 32, first saw the Ballynoe Stone meter, surrounds an excentric cairn, oval in shape, re­ Circle (pl. I) on l sth August. On this visit he also tained by a kerb of smaller stones. Work this season has met Miss M. Gaffikin from Newcastle, Co. Down, been restricted to a partial examination of the cairn, in then an amateur archaeologist. A letter from Van which two large marginal cists have been uncovered. 74 Giffen to Miss Gaffikin reveals that the possibilities They contain incinerated material but their complete The Ballynoe Stone Circle examination has been deferred until next year. Three a long segmented structure which the excavator thinks small menhirs were also uncovered, but so far no sherds may be secondary. Coarse sherds of developed Neolithic have been recovered. The excavator regards the site as character accompanied small cremation pockets between a 'missing link' between the Henge monuments and cer­ the cairn and the stone circle, but the cists contained tain sepulchral sites in North England.' nothing except abundant cremated material. It is pos­ sible that a deep fosse surrounds the circle, but tests 2. Idem, PPS 4, 1938, p. 322. have so far proved inconclusive. It is hoped that the ' 'Ballynoe Townland, Co. Down, Ballynoe Stone Cir­ investigation will be completed in 1939. cle. Dr. Van Giffen has continued his work on this site; the excavation of the cairn is now complete and the 3. In: A preliminary survey of the ancient monu­ material had been replaced so as to expose the kerb. One ments of NorthernIreland, 1940, 120- of the two cists uncovered last season was found to be Belfast pp. 121, pl. 29. Fig. r. The Ballynoe Stone Circle; location, general plan with 'Ballynoe td, Stone Circle. location of the main sections, and sketch of E chamber by About 3 m. S. of Downpatrick and 1/4 m. N.W. of ]. D. Anderson (1937). Ballynoe Station, from which a Iane leads directly to it. IRELAN D BALLYNOE 0 200m ,-··� . �­ , B '• I '\ I •• I '-=- *-� . • · ·� A -- § F,,, �- - • " •• ·�• • •1'- " 10 m 75 W. GROENMAN-VAN WAATERINGE & J. J. BUTLEll Down, Sh. 37, Plan 16, Tr. 2, Alt. 100. This monument 8. H. ]. Case, Irish Neolithic pottery: distribu­ is of the greatest importance, as it forms a kind of mis­ tion and sequence, PPS 17, 1961, pp. 174-233, esp. sing link between the so-called "henge" monuments and 22 5. the grave mounds. Perhaps the finest megalithic struc­ 9. A. Bur!, Dating the British Stone Circles. ture surviving in Northern Ireland, it stands in cul­ American Scientists 61, 1973, pp. 167-174.24 tivated lowland less than 100 ft. above sea. It consists Finally, in connection with their publication of of an outer ring of massive stones up to 7 ft. in height the Millin Bay Cairn, A. E. P. Collins and D. M. set in a true circle the external diam. of which is 108 ft. The uprights are irregular in shape and arrangement: Waterman (1955) discuss Van Giffen's excavation they are often in contact but some are collapsed and in rather more detail, utilizing all the then a vailable some apparently removed. They are set in places around data - i.e. a plan of the 1937 excavation and a a low mound but this may in part not be an original few photographs. We shall return to their work feature. On the W. side are two external uprights 9 ft. later. from the circle and 7 ft. apart : opposite them, 19 ft. away and inside the circle is a crescent of 5 smaller 4. THE EXCA V A TIONS stones extending for 28 ft. and acting as a kerb to a raised platform which, occupying the rest of the circle, 4.r. THE EXCAVATION IN 1937, serves to level its interior since the ground outside is A REPORT BY A. E. VAN GIFFEN sloping down to the W. On this platform, which is 3 ft. high at the W. end, is an oval cairn 48 ft. by 60 ft., By way of introduction we present here a short surrounded by a kerb 2 ft. high, occupying the E. side report written by Van Giffen·' in a letter dated 2nd of the circle and set on the same axis as the crescent October 1937 addressed to Dr. D. A. Chart, Min­ and external uprights. It is 3 to 4 ft. in height. The istry of Finance, Ancient Monuments and Historie stones of the outer circle are nearly all composed of Buildings.