Giant's Ring, Belfast

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. The enclosure with passage tomb known as the Giant's Ring is a State Care Historic Monument sited in the townland of Ballynahatty, in Lisburn City Council area, at grid ref: J3272 6770. [cite web | title=Ballynahatty | work=Environment and Heritage Service NI - State Care Historic Monuments | url=http://www.ehsni.gov.uk/state_care_monuments_2007.pdf | accessdate=2007-12-03]

In the 18th century the site was used for horse racing. [ [http://www.visitlisburn.com/heritage/giants_ring/ Giants Ring : Visit Lisburn : Lisburn Tourism Guide Lisburn City Guide Lisburn City Council Information Centre Northern Ireland ] ] 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). [ [http://www.planningni.gov.uk/areaplans_policy/plans/BMA/draft_plan/02Part4/volume3/Countryside/countryside_urban.htm BMAP ] ]

References

External links

* [http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/tt/57d01/ Photos of the Giant's Ring]
* [http://www.lisburn.com/books/historical_society/volume9/volume9_1.html The Prehistory of the Giant's Ring and Ballynahatty Townland]
* [http://www.lisburn.com/books/historical_society/volume9/voume9images/volume9-02.jpgAerial photograph of the Giant's Ring taken in 1984]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=belfast&ie=UTF8&ll=54.540281,-5.949633&spn=0.002259,0.006781&t=h&om=1 The Giant's Ring on Google Maps]