Standing stone, Cathair Samháin, Co. Kerry

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Stone Monuments

Standing stone, Cathair Samháin, Co. Kerry

On a flat stretch of bogland south of the Cummeragh river in County Kerry, a boulder-like standing stone rises from the ground at a slight eastward lean, its broad base tapering gradually to a rounded point.

It is not a dramatic monolith in the conventional sense, more a massive, blunt presence anchored into the earth, with packing stones and a small upright slab tucked against its eastern side as if steadying it in place. That detail, the careful wedging of stones around the base, hints at a deliberate act of installation rather than a stone simply left where glaciers deposited it.

The stone stands 1.55 metres high and measures 1.35 metres by 0.85 metres at its base, oriented roughly north-northeast to south-southwest. It sits in the townland of Cathair Samháin on the Iveragh Peninsula, the long finger of land in south Kerry that carries the Ring of Kerry road. Standing stones of this kind are a familiar but poorly understood feature of the Irish prehistoric landscape; most date to somewhere within the Bronze Age, though pinning down an exact period without excavation is rarely possible. What makes this example quietly notable is its setting. It overlooks Lough Currane to the southwest, a large lake that drains into the sea at Waterville, and the combination of open bogland, water view, and carefully placed stone suggests the location was chosen with some intention, though what that intention was remains a matter of informed guesswork rather than certainty.

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Pete F
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