Cèide Fields ~ 3000 b.c.

     Five thousand years ago a stone age farming community lived in what is now called the Cèide  (kay-jeh) Fields, five miles west of Ballycastle. After the settlement was deserted a bog covered the fields to a depth of up to four meters.
     In the 1930's a local school teacher, Patrick Caulfield, noticed piles of rocks in the bottom of the bog where he cut turf. Forty years later Patrick's son, Seamas, an archaeologist, began to study the stones in the bogs and discovered that they were the remains of walled fields, houses, and tombs preserved beneath the bog of North Mayo County 

     A family dwelling, an animal pen, and approximately ten square kilometers have been mapped and excavated. The plan on the stamp shows the location of stone walls under the bog. It is similar to the plan in the brochure compiled by Dr. Caulfield and distributed by the office of Public Works of the Republic of Ireland. The picture on the stamp shows what the walled fields would have looked like before the bog covered them.