stones historical ireland

Rising picturesquely above a gorse-grown rocky outcrop, on the crest of a hill commanding a broad sweep of countryside, this shapely 'hole stone' is a good example of its type and a familiar landmark in the locality. Typical of places where the dumping of refuse is specifically prohibited, the immediate area abounds in unsightly litter. A tapered dolerite slab about 5 feet high and 21/2 feet wide at the base, it is pierced with a circular hole 3 inches in diameter, neatly cut, with smooth...

A squared pillarstone of monumental appearance, 7 feet high and 3 feet wide. its south-eastern face is decorated with a profusion of cup-marks, many with single and multiple surrounding rings, a characteristic motif of the Galician or rock art of the Bronze Age. The stone is in a field behind a farmhouse, 1 mile north-north-east of Muff, to the west of the coast road to Carrowkeel and Moville....

About 5km out on the Ballinamore road is the Killycluggin Stone. The original or this roadside replica is in the National Museum in Dublin.

The ornamentation is from the early Iron Age and contains incised La Tene motifs. La Tene relates to the Celtic culture in Europe from about the 5th to the 1st century BC which was characterised by curvilinear decoration like that found on the Killycluggin Stone.

The first discoveries of this style of decoration were made at La Tene, Lac de N...

An inscription on the south-east face records that Ternohc son of Ceran Bic put the place under the protection of St. Peter the Apostle. As Ternohc's death is recorded in 714 or 716, the inscription could make this the earliest historically datable stone monument in Ireland. Above the inscription is a Latin cross and, beneath it, a decorative equal armed cross in a circle.

The north-western face bears other forms of crosses, both with and without enclosing circle. The pillar stood at...

Its capstone is supported by three uprights, but on e of these-and the capstone-were erected in the 19th century to make it look like a dolmen. However, the monument itself is genuinely Stone Age, for two of the uprights supporting the capstone are the portals of the forecourt of a court-tomb of around 3000 B.C., which gave access to a burial chamber of three sections in a cairn bordered with kerb-stones. Easier to find than this court-tomb, which is known locally as the Broad Stone, is anothe...

Birthplace of the National Flag. A large stone marks the location of the first raising of the familiar green, white and gold tricolour in 1848. A local Committee continue the tradition of raising the flag in the village each morning....

Visit the love stone with your true love. It is a tapered dolerite slab about 5 feet high by 21 feet, 2 inches wide with a circular hole, of some 3 to 4 inches cut into it. Evidence of tree planting nearby from 1791. In the last century the 'Holestone' Lovestone was used by trothplighting couples to solemnise their marriage....

This little known and somewhat difficult to find monument, 'Diarmuid and Grainne's Bed', is located on a farm 1 mile south of Carrowkeel (alias Kerrykeel) village and about 1/4 mile to the east of the road to Rathmelton. The portal stones are a well matched pair some 6 feet high, supporting the front edge of a craggy, cup-marked capstone which has been slightly displaced...

Known as 'The Giant's Griddle' and recorded as such on the 1/2 inch O.S. Map, this handsome megalith is fairly well preserved despite forming part of a modern wall into which some of the cairn stones have been built. The chamber lacks at least one of its side stones, but the large capstone is still in position. A cupmarked stone is contained in the wall near the Griddle, and remains of a second tomb lie close by. This monument is not easy to find without asking directions locally, nor is...

A standing stone, 17 feet high, looking almost like a modern piece of sculpture.
An ogham inscription, possibly added later, reads MAQI-DECCEDDAS AVI TURANIAS (Of the son of Deich descendant of Torainn)....