A new 2027 calendar from Paul and Linda Powers brings thirteen of the island's most remarkable prehistoric sites into the home, one month at a time, and it may be the most Irish gift under the tree this Christmas.
Long before the first monastery bell rang across Ireland, long before Patrick or the Celts, people were raising stones here. They hauled 100-ton capstones into place with nothing but rope, timber and patience. They aligned tombs to the summer solstice sunrise. They built circles on hilltops where a bonfire could be seen for miles. And many of those stones are still standing.
The Ancient Stones of Ireland 2027 Calendar, researched and photographed by Paul and Linda Powers, is an invitation to go and see them. Each month opens on a full-page photograph of a stone circle, dolmen, wedge tomb or hillfort, paired with a short, lively account of its history and the legends that cling to it.
The year begins at Uragh Stone Circle on the Beara Peninsula in Co. Kerry, where a nine-foot stone stands guard over a valley of lakes, woods and the Inchiquin waterfall. "Sit a while and just let the beauty soak into you," the Powers write. Hidden in the trees below is a tumbled famine-era cottage, and they ask the question any visitor would: what must it have been like to be forced off land so gorgeous?
From there the calendar travels the whole island. In June comes Brownshill Dolmen near Carlow town, whose capstone weighs over 100 tons and is believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe. July brings the Ballycrovane Ogham Stone in Co. Cork, at 17 feet the tallest of Ireland's roughly 400 ogham stones, its ancient script still legible to a patient eye. May climbs Beltany Hill in Co. Donegal, where 64 stones ring the summit and Bealtaine fires may once have burned.
The writing is as much a pleasure as the pictures. The authors are good company: curious, well read and quick with a joke. At Proleek Dolmen in Co. Louth, readers learn the legend that landing three small stones on the 40-ton capstone will grant a wish or a wedding within the year. Paul, a former US Marine, admits that as a married man he wisely chose the wish, though his golf game still disappoints. At Lough Gur in Co. Limerick, they recount the 19th-century "money diggers" who scorned an old jug of burned bones as worthless. It was, in fact, a Bronze Age Beaker pot, now prized by archaeologists.
The tour closes at Carrowmore in Co. Sligo, a ritual landscape of some 80 monuments in the shadow of Knocknarea, and at the towering stone fort of Grianán of Aileach, high above Lough Swilly and Lough Foyle in Inishowen. The cover, Derreenataggart Stone Circle in West Cork set beneath a sweep of the Milky Way, is worth framing on its own.
This is a calendar to live with as well as look at. The grids are generous enough for appointments and birthdays, and the holidays of Ireland, the UK and the US are all marked, from St. Brigid's Day and the Battle of the Boyne to Thanksgiving. That makes it an easy gift for family on either side of the Atlantic. For the emigrant, it is a monthly reminder of home. For anyone planning a trip, it is a ready-made itinerary, with practical notes on where to park and which farm gate to look for.
The Powers close their introduction with a thought that suits the season: "What will we leave behind that can truly stand the test of time?" A calendar lasts only a year. But the places in it have lasted five thousand, and for twelve months, they can hang in your kitchen.
The Ancient Stones of Ireland 2027 Calendar costs $24.99, shipping included, at www.PocassetPress.com
Ireland's Oldest StoriesTold in Ancient Stones of Ireland 2027 Calendar
