Standing stone, Curreeny Commons, Co. Tipperary

Co. Tipperary |

Stone Monuments

Standing stone, Curreeny Commons, Co. Tipperary

On the upland slopes of Curreeny Commons, a rectangular slab of stone just over a metre tall has been standing for an indeterminate stretch of prehistory, now surrounded by the close ranks of a modern coniferous plantation.

The trees are a relatively recent imposition on a landscape that would once have offered open sightlines across a wide arc from northwest through north and east to southwest. That the stone was placed here deliberately, on a poorly drained ENE-facing slope, with its long axis running northwest to southeast and its profile tapering towards the top, suggests its positioning was considered rather than incidental.

The stone measures 1.161 metres in height, with a base roughly 0.7 metres by 0.47 metres, giving it a solid, columnar presence despite its modest scale. Standing stones like this one are a common but still poorly understood feature of the Irish prehistoric landscape; they were erected across a broad span of time and have been associated variously with ritual, boundary-marking, and commemoration, though the specific purpose of any individual example is rarely recoverable. What complicates the picture at Curreeny Commons is the presence of two prostrate slabs lying immediately to the northeast of the upright stone. These flat, fallen slabs may once have formed part of a small associated structure or arrangement, though the suspicion is that they were toppled during the planting of the surrounding forest. If so, whatever relationship they held to the standing stone has been physically disrupted, leaving their original configuration a matter of inference rather than record.

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Pete F
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