Have you visited this gem in Ireland's ancient landscape?

Here's one for your Ireland bucket list: a visit to the Beltany Stone Circle.

Mystery still surrounds one of Ireland's Bronze Age gems: to this day Beltany Stone Circle, with its 64 standing stones, remains infamous thanks to local legends and folklore.

The impressive megalithic site located near the town of Raphoe in County Donegal is believed to date back to 1400-800 BC. However, it's uncertain as to what its uses were.

While some believe that the stone circle was used for religious rituals, observations of the sun and moon, and the winter/summer solstices. It may also have been used for ceremonial purposes or burials.

According to local folklore, the stones of the circle were once human beings, who had been turned to stone as punishment for dancing on the Sabbath!

It is believed the Beltany is linked with Bealtaine or 'May Day'; the fire festival celebrated by the Celts.

Ancient-Origins.net states that "Traditionally, the Festival of Beltaine or Beltane was celebrated with the lighting of bonfires on the top of hills, and the movement of livestock to summer pastures. These celebrations were believed to ensure protection, as well as to guarantee a good harvest for the year. It has been suggested that the name of the site is an indication that the site’s function as a pagan ritual center had survived in the folk memory of the local population."

Photographer Gareth Wray, who captured the stunning images above, called Beltany Stone Circle a "totally different kind of beauty".

He writes, "In all my journeys across Ireland Beltany Stone Circle holds the most mystery for me. Often I wonder on how & why this monument was constructed even before the invention of the wheel or rope? Why where these stones each weighing tons transported all the way from “Barnesmore Gap” over 25 miles away to be stood on this sacred location? So many questions & to this very day scientists nor archaeologists don’t know the answers! This ancient monument has held its secrets for over 4000 years & I strongly believe it will hold them for 4000 more."