Beltany

Area

168,850 m² (16.88 ha, 41.72 acres)

Buildings

No building touches it.

Zoning

No zone of a development plan covers it in the national zoning. Outside zoned towns and villages, the county development plan's rural policies apply.

Townland

Beltany

Planning applications on this parcel

No planning application touches this parcel in the national file, which goes back to 2010.

Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

No designated site (Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area, Natural Heritage Area or proposed one) touches this parcel.

Recorded monuments around it

This parcel is in the zone of notification of 3 recorded monuments.

• DG070-025 Enclosure
  Description

  Located a slight terrace just below the summit of Beltany Hill, 60m SW of Beltany stone circle (DG070-026001-). This monument is shown as an oval enclosure (c. 45m NW−SE; c. 30m NE−SW) named 'Graveyard' on the 1st edition OS 6-inch map. It is indicated as 'Old Graveyard' on the 2nd edition; on later editions it is shown simply as a penannular enclosure (max dim. c. 35-40m NE−SW), open to the W. It is defined by stone-wall field boundaries. The E perimeter coincides with the townland boundary. It is not clear what the exact nature of this site was but its proximity to the stone circle might suggest that they were in some way related (Lacy et al. 1983, 73, no. 329). Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 12 July 2017

• DG070-026001 Stone circle
  Description

  This monument, on a hilltop with an extensive outlook in all directions, is known as Beltany Stone Circle. It lies 3.2km NNW of the cemetery of megalithic tombs centred on Kilmonaster Middle townland. It consists of a disturbed artificial platform now c. 0.5m high, perhaps the base of a cairn, bounded by a circle of large stones. The circle is c. 45m in diameter. At present 64 stones stand in the circle, and there may originally have been up to 80. Some large stones are exposed in the disturbed interior. It has been suggested that there may have been a megalithic chamber within the circle (O.D. 1939), perhaps a passage tomb (Ó Nualláin 1995, 15). The earliest accounts of the site seem to be those in the unpublished documentation of the Ordnance Survey dating to the years shortly before the mid-19th century. It is clear that the monument was considerably disturbed at this stage. According to the OS Memoir (1836), there had been a cairn or 'vast heap of stones' within the circle, but it had been removed to form fences in the vicinity. Thomas Fagan (1845-8), who saw the monument in 1846, observed that both the interior and the enclosing circle of stones were much disfigured. He was informed that 'the interior was raised with earth and stones covering and encircling sepulchral graves' and that decayed bones were unearthed here. Excavation would be required to determine whether the enclosed platform is the base of a cairn and whether there was any form of megalithic chamber here.OS Mem oirs, Raphoe parish (1836), 1, 27; Fagan 1845-8, book 10, 28; H. Morris 1939 (Beltany); O.D. 1939 (Beltany); Lacy 1983, 72-3, no. 329 (fig.); SMR 1987, 70:26B; Ó Nualláin 1995, 15; RMP 1995, 70:26/1. The above description was published in the 'Survey of the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland. Volume VI, County Donegal.' Compiled by: Eamon Cody (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). The Beltany Stone Circle (National Monument Number No. 463), consists of a disturbed artificial platform c. 0.5m high defined by a circle of large stones of which sixty-four remain but which originally may have numbered about eighty (Boyle-Somerville 1922-3, 212). The stones are of varying sizes and one of them on the NE is covered on the internal side with cupmarks (there is possibly one cupmark on the external side also). The interior of the site was considerably interfered with in the 1930's (Davies 1939b, 293). Great numbers of loose stones are now lying up against the perimeter megaliths and dotted about the surface of the interior. Several stones protrude from the surface of the interior and in the SW sector there is a standing stone 1m high, almost an equilateral triangle in plan, each side .6m. Partially exposed in the ground to the W of the standing stone is the top of a long stone, possibly that referred to by Davies as suggesting a megalithic chamber. To the SE of the circle is an out-lying standing stone (DG070-026002-) 2m high. Boyle-Somerville suggested that this outlier as well as other features of the adjacent horizon were employed by the circle builders to determine astronomical alignments. The circle is situated on the summit of Beltany Hill in good land with excellent views. Sixty metres to the SW of the stone circle and on a slight terrace just below the summit of the hill, is a circular area (DG070-025----) 35m in diameter, open on the W side but defined elsewhere by stone-wall field boundaries. The area is marked as a 'Graveyard' on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch maps and as an 'Old Graveyard' on the 2nd edition. It is not clear what the exact nature of this site was but its proximity to the stone circle might suggest that they were in some way related. The above description was derived from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated. Date of upload: 22 September 2008

• DG070-026002 Standing stone
  Description

  Located to the SE of Beltany stone circle (DG070-026002-) (National Monument Number No. 463), which is situated on the summit of Beltany Hill, is an out-lying standing stone 2m high. Boyle-Somerville (1909) suggested that this outlier as well as other features of the adjacent horizon were employed by the circle builders to determine astronomical alignments. The above description was derived (p. 73, no. 329) from the 'Archaeological Survey of County Donegal. A description of the field antiquities of the County from the Mesolithic Period to the 17th century.' Compiled by: Brian Lacey with Eamon Cody, Claire Cotter, Judy Cuppage, Noel Dunne, Vincent Hurley, Celie O'Rahilly, Paul Walsh and Seán Ó Nualláin (Lifford: Donegal County Council, 1983). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated.

Architectural heritage

No building of the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage stands on this parcel.

Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Buildings: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).

Ground and risks

Radon

At the centre of this parcel, about 1 in 10 homes in this area is likely to have high radon levels. Testing a home

Landslides

The 1:50,000 map rates the landslide susceptibility here as moderately high, moderately low, low.

Terrain model

LiDAR of the Office of Public Works, flown in 2011, at 2 m: tile OPW_1835 (ZIP).

Flooding

The Office of Public Works publishes its flood maps on floodinfo.ie.

Radon Risk Map of Ireland, Environmental Protection Agency, and Landslide Susceptibility Classification, Geological Survey Ireland, both under CC BY 4.0. LiDAR: contains Irish Public Sector Data (Geological Survey Ireland & the Office of Public Works) licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.

Download this parcel as DXF, in Irish Transverse Mercator metres, with its neighbours and buildings, for a drawing program. GeoJSON, in WGS 84, suits a map, and KML opens in Google Earth.

Registered freehold land, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. A parcel is the land of a title, not an address. The owner's name is in the Land Registry of Tailte Éireann: a copy of the folio can be ordered on landdirect.ie, for a fee.