Standing stone - pair, Inchee, Co. Kerry

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Stone Monuments

Standing stone – pair, Inchee, Co. Kerry

On the summit of a ridge at the western end of the Derrynasaggart Mountains, two prehistoric standing stones hold their ground just four metres from the perimeter fence of a mobile phone mast.

The juxtaposition is quietly jarring: monuments that have stood for thousands of years, now neighbours to telecommunications infrastructure on a Kerry hilltop. Paired standing stones are found across Ireland, often interpreted as markers for boundaries, routeways, or astronomical alignments, though their precise purpose in any individual case remains uncertain. This pair, in rough grazing at Inchee, is oriented along a NW-SE axis, with the two stones set about 1.3 metres apart.

The northwest stone stands 1.35 metres tall and is subrectangular in profile, measuring roughly 0.65 metres wide and 0.2 metres thick. What sets it apart is a deliberate semicircular notch cut into its northern edge, positioned about 0.45 metres above ground level. Notches of this kind are unusual and their function is not fully understood; they may have served a sighting or alignment purpose, or carried some significance now lost entirely. The southeast stone is slightly shorter at 1.2 metres and a little wider at 0.8 metres, also subrectangular in profile but finishing in a more pointed top rather than the flatter crown of its companion. Together they form a modest but carefully considered pair, their differences in shape suggesting either two distinct phases of erection or a deliberate contrast between the two.

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