Bocan stone circle, Bronze Age stone circle in Inishowen, Ireland.
Bocan stone circle stands on Bocan Hill near Culdaff on the Inishowen peninsula, County Donegal, in a heather-covered field. Seven stones remain upright of an original ring of about 25 to 30 stones, some up to 2 m tall, with a diameter of roughly 18.3 m. Two tall stones appear to mark an entrance, with two smaller stones opposite.
The circle was built during the Irish Bronze Age, between 3000 and 1500 BC. In 1816, twelve stones were reported standing, and remains of cremation burials and pottery were found at the centre. In 1928, Boyle Somerville surveyed the alignment from a 1.5 m stone with cup marks to a 1.9 m stone opposite, pointing to sunset at the summer solstice on Farragan Hill, about 7 km away.
The circle alignment creates a direct east-west axis between Slieve Snaght mountain and the Scottish island of Jura, suggesting astronomical significance.
Bocan stone circle stands on Bocan Hill about 1.5 km from Culdaff, in a heather-covered field near the boundary of the townlands Bocan and Glackadrumman. The ground is rough and uneven, with fallen and broken stones among the seven still standing, so wear sturdy footwear. The site is not on level ground and there is no marked path or shelter.
In 1928 the surveyor Boyle Somerville measured the circle from a 1.5 m stone in the southeast marked with cup marks, whose carving could not be confirmed because of weathering. A line from it to a 1.9 m stone opposite points toward a spot on Farragan Hill, about 7 km away, marking the midsummer sunset.
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