Aughlish facts for kids

Early scientists studied ancient stone arrangements, like those at Aughlish, to understand how people in the past used them to track the sky.

Aughlish (sometimes called Auglish) is a special place in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It's a "townland," which is like a small area of land. Aughlish is famous because it has at least six ancient stone circles and two stone rows. It's about 3.6 kilometers (2.2 miles) from a town called Feeny.

What are Stone Circles and Stone Rows?

Stone circles and stone rows are groups of large stones that were put in place a very long time ago by people. They are often found in places like Ireland and Great Britain.

• Stone Circles: These are usually round or oval shapes made from standing stones. Some circles have many stones, while others have just a few.
• Stone Rows: These are lines of stones standing upright. They can be short or very long.

Scientists believe these stone structures were important for ancient people. They might have been used for special ceremonies, to mark important places, or even to track the sun, moon, and stars.

Exploring Aughlish's Ancient Stones

Aughlish is home to several amazing stone structures.

• One large stone circle has 41 smaller stones inside it. There's also a tall stone, about 150 centimeters (5 feet) high, that has fallen over at the south side of this circle. Another stone of the same height stands outside the circle to the north.
• There are three other circles, or parts of circles, at Aughlish. These also have "alignments," which means the stones are lined up in a specific way. One of these stone lines stretches for 18 meters (about 59 feet)!

Who Built the Stones at Aughlish?

Experts like Aubrey Burl, who studies ancient sites, believe that Aughlish is a great example of a Bronze Age ritual site. The Bronze Age was a time in history, roughly from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, when people started using bronze to make tools and weapons.

Burl thinks that the way the stone circles and rows are set up at Aughlish shows connections to other stone builders in England, Scotland, and other parts of Northern Ireland. This suggests that ancient people shared ideas about how to build these impressive stone monuments.

One of the stone rows at Aughlish is pointed towards where the Moon sets at its southernmost point. This shows that the people who built these stones were very good at observing the sky and understood the movements of the sun, moon, and stars.