Sundial, Sceilg Mhichíl, Co. Kerry

The slab, thought to be a sundial, now sits repurposed as the inner lintel of an oratory on the upper terrace of the site. In that position, wedged into the fabric of the building, almost none of its decoration can actually be seen.

The slab itself is 1.6 metres long and tapers from a broad flat top down to a narrow base. Near the top there is a circular perforation, from which three radial grooves extend outward, the central one being the most pronounced. That central groove runs down to meet the upper arm of a linear Latin cross carved into the stone, a cross with bulbous terminals on its shaft and a grooved ring around the junction of its arms. The radial grooves extending from the perforation are what give rise to the sundial interpretation: a pin or rod inserted through the hole would cast a shadow along the grooves as the sun moved, allowing monks to track the hours of the day and, with them, the times of prayer. Whether that was its original purpose or merely a secondary use is not entirely settled. Documented by A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan in their 1996 archaeological survey of the Iveragh Peninsula, the slab has since been revised and updated by Caimin O'Brien.

Visitors to Sceilg Mhichíl who make it to the upper terrace, a steep and physically demanding climb, should look for the small oratory there. The slab is the lintel above the interior entrance, but as the notes make clear, its carved face is largely obscured from view in that position. Knowing it is there, and knowing what it may once have been used for, is most of what a visitor can take away from it.