Meayll Circle

On the open top of Mull Hill above Cregneash stands an arrangement unlike anything else in the region: twelve stone chambers set as six pairs in a ring roughly twenty metres across, each pair sharing an entrance passage running outward. It dates from the Neolithic and was excavated in 1893, producing pottery and cremated bone. The plan has no close parallel in Britain or Ireland. The hill is open ground with views over the southern end of the island.

Background

The hill is called Cronk Meayll in Manx and is also known as The Mull, a name taken from the Manx Gaelic word for "bald". It rises to 169 m, with a prominence of c. 154 m, and lies in an exclave of Rushen parish near the island's southern tip. The monument is a chambered cairn, raised around 3500 BC. Its burial chambers have produced white quartz pebbles, flint tools, charred bones and sherds of decorated pottery, and an adze has also come from the hill. Local legend has attached a range of ghost stories to the stones.

Source: Wikipedia, "Mull Hill"

What to look for

• The paired chambers - twelve compartments set as six pairs around a ring.
• The plan - an arrangement with no close parallel in Britain or Ireland.
• The hilltop setting - open ground with views over the southern end.
• The 1893 excavation - the dig that recovered pottery and cremated bone.

When to go

April to October for the best conditions on exposed ground. The site is open at all times. Mist can close in quickly on the hill.

Good to know

The stones are low and the plan is hard to read on the ground without a diagram. There is little interpretation at the site. The hilltop is exposed with no shelter.

Nearby

Cregneash is below, and Port Erin is northwest.