Ballynichol Standing Stones

Map Reference: J459669 (3459, 3669)



A group of five standing stones, known locally as the “Five Sisters”, stand close together forming an arc. Excavation in 1955 shows that they are the surviving part of the curving facade of a court tomb. There are no traces of the cairn but it has been shown that the burial gallery was deliberately destroyed by digging a trench along its axis and burying the stones. Some cremated bone fragments and numerous potsherds were recovered, as well as a flint hollow scraper and a piece of worked bone, possibly the head of a small bone pin.