Ballynoe is a large and very unique stone circle located a few miles south-west of Downpatrick Co. Down.
There is evidence here of a multi-phase evolution or struggle between different cults or societies. The circle itself is made of large stones set close together. While there are large gaps here and there, it is still a substantial monument of itself.

Inside this outer circle there is an English style long-barrow mound with a kerb of smaller boulders that seems to have been robbed from two earlier kerbed cairns of the passage tomb tradition. Several finds inside the circle seem to confirm a neolithic passage tomb use at some point.

Today evidence still remains of the kerb of one of these passage tombs which forms a small semi-circle just inside the large outer circle. There are also several outlying stones which could indicate alignments but none seem to match obvious celestial events.

In all, Ballynoe is an enigmatic site which is confusing in its possibilities and inaccuracies. It does not fit in with any other known development of the circle or passage tomb tradition but intriguingly the large circle itself is almost an exact replica of Swinside Stone Circle in Cumbira, England and is also on the same latitude. The name 'Ballynoe' has been translated as 'The New Settlement' (Burl).