Beltany is a Bronze Age stone circle located just south of Raphoe town in County Donegal, Ireland. It is about 2100 to 700 BC old. Evidence suggests it may have also been a sacred site for Neolithic monuments, possibly early passage tombs. It overlooks the now destroyed passage tomb complex at Kilmonaster. Beltany is dominated by Croghan Hill to the east, where a Neolithic mound, likely a passage tomb, sits on the summit (though it has never been excavated).
Today, Beltany is 145 feet wide and has 64 stones (originally there were at least 80 stones) of different heights and widths, enclosing an earthen platform. The stones are large, with some over 6 feet tall. The center is greatly disturbed, likely due to digging by locals in the 1700s for stones to build farmsteads and field boundaries. This information was shared orally with Ordnance Survey field officers in the 1830s and recorded in their maps. The records mention that locals remembered removing large piles of stones and sepulchral-type graves with bones. A boulder wall near the circle may support this, as well as early maps showing a place called “Tops Village” at the foot of the hill. The stone circle is located on the summit of Tops Hill, named from the Gaelic word meaning “the lighting of a ceremonial torch.” Some stones have cupmarks, including a triangle-shaped stone on the northeast side with circular incisions visible to the naked eye. Other stones appear to have patterns resembling star constellations. Heavy stones on the northwest side lean outward, possibly due to pressure from debris and boulders removed in the 1700s or from erosion of the earthen bank.
Beltany was a ritual site connected to marking the agricultural Celtic year, including the summer and winter solstices and equinoxes. The Celtic Ritual Year had four main parts: Beltaine (May), Samhain (November), Imbolg (February), and Lughnasa (August). Beltany may have been used to mark sunrise and sunset during these events. It may also align with the moon, though this has not yet been calculated.
A single “outlier” stone about 2 meters tall stands southeast of the circle. It may have had a role in rituals or ceremonies. Alternatively, it could be one of several standing stones found in fields around Tops Hill and its valley.
A carved stone head (flat on the back) is believed to have come from the area around Beltany. It may have been used as a mask or a mold for making ceremonial masks in bronze or gold. This artifact is stored in the vaults at the National Museum in Dublin. These large stones show that the area was used as a sacred and ritual site for many centuries.
The name “Beltany” is thought to be linked to the Celtic festival of fertility called “Beltane,” the anglicized name for the Gaelic May Day festival, commonly held on May 1. In Irish, the festival is called “Lá Bealtaine,” in Scottish Gaelic “Là Bealltainn,” and in Manx Gaelic “Laa Boaltinn/Boaldyn.”