* * * * * _Circle at Newgrange._--It is impossible within the limits of this Handbook to do more than briefly indicate a few typical examples of the many stone circles scattered throughout the country. The stones which encompass the monuments of Newgrange and Dowth are generally very large, some of them measuring 8 or 9 feet in height. The engraving (p. 123) represents a portion of the circle at the former place, of which a description has already been given. There are several minor examples in the same neighbourhood, but they are in a state of great dilapidation, and, with one exception, would hardly repay a student for the time occupied in visiting them, particularly as the grander remains at Newgrange are so accessible. [Illustration: Remains of Stone Circle near Dowth.] Portions of a fine circle, or rather oval, lie a little to the east of Dowth Hall, to the left of the road from Drogheda. Many of the stones have been removed, but several of gigantic proportions remain in their original position. * * * * * _Circle near Newtownbutler._--One of the most notable circles now remaining in Ireland is that called the ‘Druid’s Temple,’ situated on the summit of a hill near Wattle Bridge, a small hamlet in the vicinity of Newtownbutler, Co. Fermanagh. The stones vary in length from 3 to upwards of 10 feet. The largest remaining measures slightly over 10 feet; it is 6 feet 5 inches in breadth, and 3 feet 9 inches in thickness. Another is 7 feet high, 8 feet 5 inches broad, and 5 feet in thickness. The circle on the interior measures in diameter 126 feet. The diameter of the outer ring at Stonehenge is 100 feet, a figure common to several of these remains. Whether the Fermanagh circle was ever enclosed by an outer work, as was common with kindred structures in Britain and elsewhere, can probably never be ascertained. For more than two hundred years the land immediately adjoining has been subject to the plough. That there were outside works, however, can scarcely admit of a doubt. On the south-east side, a distance of five paces from the circle, are five large stones, the ruins of a cromlech which had been wrecked many years ago for the sake of its material. * * * * * _Ballynoe (Legamaddy) and Slieve na Greidle Circles._--Interesting examples of stone circles are to be found in County Down. The largest is Legamaddy, close to Ballynoe station, about three miles south of Downpatrick. It consists of inner and outer circles; the former measures 90 feet by 40 feet, with 22 stones, and the latter 100 feet in diameter, with 45 stones. Another occurs on Slieve na Greidle, or Griddle Mountain, to the south-east of the town. [Illustration: Stone Circle, Ballynoe, near Downpatrick.]