마게라펠트 타운파크 최고의 사이클링 경로

County Tyrone의 구불구불한 풍경을 자전거로 달리다 보면 Wellbrook Beetling Mill은 꼭 들러야 할 곳입니다. Ballinderry 강을 따라 그림 같고 나무가 우거진 계곡에 자리한 이 19세기 수력 방적 공장은 주변의 평온함과 극명한 대조를 이룹니다. 이곳은 영국에서 마지막으로 운영되는 'beetling mill'입니다. "Beetling"은 전통적인 아일랜드 리넨 생산의 마지막 단계였습니다. 거의 5미터 높이의 수차로 구동되는 거대한 나무 망치(beetles)를 사용하여 리넨을 몇 시간 동안 가공하여 특유의 광택을 얻었습니다. 공장이 작동할 때는 멀리서도 리듬감 있는 쿵쾅거리는 소리를 들을 수 있습니다. 이는 북아일랜드의 산업 황금기로 즉시 되돌아가는 듯한 인상적인 소리입니다.

Cookstown 위쪽, 인상적인 Sperrin Mountains 산기슭에는 Beaghmore 석환이 있습니다. 이곳은 아일랜드에서 가장 매혹적인 고고학 유적지 중 하나입니다. 1940년대에 토탄 채취 중에 재발견된 이 유적지는 청동기 시대의 7개의 석환, 10개의 석렬, 수많은 봉분이 있는 복합 유적지를 드러냈습니다. Beaghmore까지 가는 길은 자전거 타는 사람에게는 그 자체로 경험입니다. 이 경로는 당신을 문명 세계에서 바람이 자유롭게 부는 광활하고 조용한 풍경으로 이끕니다. 유적지 자체는 엄청난 평온함을 발산하며, 자전거에서 내려 선사 시대의 분위기를 느낄 수 있는 완벽한 장소입니다.

Beaghmore (Bheitheach Mhór), meaning ‘big place of birch trees’. The stones speak of ancient rituals and to a people who understood astronomy. When you visit this ancient site look up in wonder at the sky and reflect, that the people that built these monuments observed the same sky, sun, moon and stars.

Contained within the ruins is a sculpture of the crucifixion, which is thought to date from the 10th Century, making it one of the oldest in Ireland. St Lurach founded an important church here in the 6th century. It was plundered by Vikings in 832 and burned in 1135. Following the 12th-century ecclesiastical reforms this was the seat of a bishop from the mid 12th to the mid 13th century, then served as parish church until the new church across the road was built in the early 19th century. This long history is reflected in the much patched and altered fabric, and the big uneven graveyard.

There are 7 stone circles, 12 cairns and 10 rows of stones here at Beaghamore. In total 1269 stones were discovered under the peat during the 1930s. The site dates back to 2900 - 2600 BC.

National Trust owned water powered mill, originally used in the manufacture of Linen. Well worth stopping off for a look around.

Beaghmore is a complex of early Bronze Age megalithic features, stone circles and cairns, 8.5 miles north west of Cookstown, on the south-east edge of the Sperrin Mountains. There are seven low stone circles of different sizes, six of which are paired, twelve cairns and ten stone rows. The circles are between 10 and 20m in diameter, and are associated with earlier burial cairns and alignments of stone rows lead towards them. The stones are small with few more than 0.5m in height and the circles are distorted, suggesting they are related to kerbs surrounding some megalithic tombs.

This a National Trust property that I believe has limited opening hours. It is well worth a visit and taking the free guided tour which gives lots of info about the place the mill had in the linen manufacturing industry (beetling being part of the finishing of the linen cloth). As part of the tour the water powered mill machinery will be stated up and you see the linen cloth being processed as it would when the mill was open.