Spread across two adjoining townlands, they show no obvious alignment, no clear ceremonial arrangement, and, crucially, no confirmed prehistoric origin. The stone recorded here in Cullaun, a rectangular orthostat of red sandstone standing 1.25 metres tall and orientated north to south on its long axis, is just one of dozens that survive in these fields, each raising the same quiet question: what exactly are they?

When the Inspector of National Monuments surveyed the area in 1934 to 1936, he counted 221 stones still standing, 173 in Timoney Hills and 48 in Cullaun, and described them as "a most remarkable group." All were cut from red sandstone or conglomerate and ranged from roughly 0.9 to 1.8 metres in height. A later survey published in the Archaeological Survey of Ikerrin mapped 245 in total, but noted that 70 had already been removed, along with five cairns, a type of mounded stone burial marker, that had also disappeared. In the specific field containing this stone, nine orthostats were identified during the 1930s survey; by the time of more recent examination, only seven could be located, with two presumed removed or levelled sometime after 1936. The stones show no apparent systematic arrangement, apart from one stone circle identified in Cullaun, and that absence of pattern is part of what makes the group so difficult to interpret. Adding further complication is the fact that all of this lies within the landscaped estate of Timoney Park, seat of the Parker-Hutchinson family, whose private 19th-century burial ground sits just 130 metres to the north-west. The estate setting has led some to question whether the stones are genuinely ancient monuments or whether at least some were placed or rearranged during the landscaping ambitions of a landed family with a taste for the antiquarian.