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Antiquities
A 'ballaun' is a deep hemispherical cup hollowed out of a rock, a ballaun stone refers to the rock itself. Generally thought to date to the Bronze Age; their original purpose is unknown.
Barrows, burial mounds and tumuli of all descriptions - bank barrows, bell barrows, bowl barrows, disc barrows and round barrows.
Chambered Cairns & Passage Graves
Burial monuments that were usually constructed during the Neolithic, consisting of a cairn of stones inside which a sizeable (usually stone) chamber was constructed.
Dolmen are single chambered megalithic tombs consisting of three or more upright stones supporting a single, large, flat capstone. Dolmens were usually covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow, the covering having since eroded away revealing the skeletal stones.
A henge is a prehistoric architectural structure. In form, it is a nearly circular or oval-shaped flat area that is enclosed and delimited by a boundary earthwork. Henges are considered to have served a ritual, rather than a defensive purpose.
Created by cutting into a steep hillside and revealing the underlying geology, they are a type of geoglyph usually designed to be seen from afar rather than above.
Fortified refuges or defended settlements located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. The fortifications usually follow the contours of the hill, consisting of one or more lines of earthworks, with stockades or defensive walls, and external ditches.
Prehistoric monument dating to the early neolithic, they are rectangular or trapezoidal earth mounds traditionally interpreted as collective tombs.
The Menhir are large upright standing stones often to be found singly as monoliths or as part of a group of similar stones. They originate from many different periods across pre-history and were erected as part of a larger Megalithic culture that flourished in Europe and beyond.
These are defensive structures located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus utilizing the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to date to the Iron Age.
Fortified settlements that are generally deemed to be from the Iron Age, Early Christian or possibly of the Early Medieval period in Northern Europe, especially Ireland.
Erected as sepulchral monuments, or used for practical and astronomical uses. Cists were sometimes interred into cairns, which would be situated in conspicuous positions, often on the skyline.
Ancient monuments of standing stones, not always precisely circular, often forming an ellipse, or more rarely a setting of four stones laid on an arc of a circle. Purposefully erected thousands of years ago, their purpose is shrouded in mystery today.
Rows of megalithic standing stones, sometimes single rows, sometimes double rows and on occasion, triple rows. They form what are believed to be 'processional' avenues.