Beaghmore - Circle E

Megalithic Complex - Co. Tyrone

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The only solitary ring, circle E is also misshapen, squashed along the E-W axis into an egg shape. The circle stones here seemed larger than those of the other rings, but what really set circle E apart was the massive array of upright stones contained in its interior. We did not count the internal stones, but we have read accounts which put their number at approximately 900, the largest internal stone standing near to, but not at, the centre of the ring. When we were examining our panoramas of this circle we noticed a circular arrangement of internal stones close to the SW edge of the ring, this may be only a chance alignment however, as we could find no reference to it in the literature. 
A cairn (6), lies on the eastern circumference of the ring, and this contained a corbelled cist in which was found a cremation, moss and twigs. Covering the cist was a large flat stone which bore cremated human skull fragments in what was perhaps, a ritual separation of the cremated remains. The by now familiar, short high, and long low rows run from the cairn, with a second cairn (5), lying at the end of the high row. We also spotted a row of stones just peeping above the turf running SE from the circle stone to the north of cairn 6, again , we could find no mention of this feature in the literature.
A few metres south of circle E is the largest cairn visible at the site, cairn 7, this was found to contain a central pit containing an oak branch.