Beaghmore: The ancient stones, the night sky and giant trolls

It might seem unlikely, but a visit to an ancient Neolithic site in the County Tyrone countryside can evolve into a journey through time and space.

Local historians and Mid Ulster Council are trying to raise awareness of the Beaghmore Stone Circles' astronomical connections.

The seven mystical circles and 10 rows of stones are nestled amid the green grass and heather-clad moorland of the Sperrin Mountains.

Just a couple of miles away on the outskirts of Cookstown, a state-of-the-art observatory has been built in Davagh Forest.

The location of Northern Ireland's only Dark Sky Park is no coincidence.

'The Milky Way shines at you'

Local historian and tour guide Hugh McCloy believes it's important that more people know about the connection between the Beaghmore stones and modern astronomy.

He said: "You can come here look up at the sky at night and you'll see the Milky Way shining at you, as bright as you'll see it nearly anywhere in the world.

"Thousands of years ago our ancestors came up here at night to look at the stars, and now we're recreating that."

The Beaghmore Stone Circles are located at the foot of the Sperrin mountains

The Beaghmore Stone Circles are located at the foot of the Sperrin mountains - one of the few areas in Northern Ireland unaffected by light pollution.

Beaghmore (Bheitheach Mhór), meaning "big place of birch trees", was once a dense woodland before being cleared by Neolithic farmers.

Hearths and deposits of flint tools found here have been carbon dated to 2900-2600BC.

The stone circles and alignments were discovered in the late 1930s when a local worker, George Barnett, was cutting peat.

Following an archaeological dig a further 1,269 stones were uncovered.

Mysterious stones

The site and the surrounding bog indicate the area was occupied from Neolithic times through to the Bronze Age.

The precise purpose of the site is still not known for sure.

But some archaeologists believe that the circles were constructed in relation to the midsummer sunrise, or to record the movements of the sun and moon acting as markers in a calendar to identify certain lunar, solar or stellar events.

Beaghmore was once a dense woodland before being cleared by Neolithic farmers

Some of the stones have ancient chisel marks that archaeologists say resemble ancient Celtic writing known as Ogham.

Ogham is an ancient Irish alphabet, represented by a series of marks on stones and it is the earliest written source of the Irish Language, dating back to the 4th Century AD.

The ancient language is also what has part inspired the name of the Davagh Forest observatory - The OM Sky Park.

As well as being an abbreviation for the ancient Irish alphabet, OM (or Aum) is what is sometimes referred to as the sound of the universe.

The OM Dark Sky Park and Observatory opened in 2020.

It's the first of its kind in Northern Ireland and one of only 78 places around the globe with the official International Dark Sky accreditation.

Hugh McCloy said: "The exact purpose of the stones might remain a mystery but they definitely point to an ancient people that understood astronomy.

"So when you visit the stones and the dark sky park and you look up, you can reflect that the people that built these monuments observed the same sky, sun, moon and stars."

Ancient giant gene

Mr McCloy says the ancient connections in this area don't end with the night sky.

The Sperrin mountains currently play host to a number of giant troll sculptures made by the Danish artist Thomas Dambo.

He has been using recycled material to construct the sculptures across the world as part of his Trail of 1000 Trolls project.

The Sperrin mountains currently plays host to troll sculptures made by the Danish artist Thomas Dambo

One of the giant trolls is located in Davagh Forest beside the OM Dark Sky Park.

Coincidently the Mid-Ulster area of Northern Ireland has previously been identified as a "giant hotspot" by scientists studying a gene defect which causes people to grow abnormally tall.

One in 150 people in Mid-Ulster were found to carry AIP - known as the "giant gene".

It can result in too much growth hormone, which is produced and released by the pituitary gland, a pea-sized gland just below the brain.

Geneticists have identified that living carriers of the gene in Mid Ulster shared a common ancestor who lived about 2,500 years ago.

Hugh McCloy says it's important not to underestimate local history

Mr McCloy said: "It's amazing to think that those people that had the gene were alive in this area when the Beaghmore stones were erected.

"And now giants are coming back to the area in a way with these sculptures."

He added: "It just goes to show, even in this small area of County Tyrone there's so much history.

"Don't underestimate what you have at your own back door."