Anomalous stone group, Gour, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Stone Monuments

Anomalous stone group, Gour, Co. Cork

On the lower eastern slope of Knockgour in County Cork, a small cluster of stones sits in rough grazing land in an arrangement that does not quite fit any tidy category.

Two upright stones flank a flat recumbent stone in the centre, the three together forming a slight arc, and the whole group is just anomalous enough that the word itself has attached to it officially. A possible fourth standing stone lies a couple of metres to the west, adding to the sense that whatever was once intended here has either been partially lost or was never quite finished.

The arrangement has some formal resemblance to a recumbent stone circle, a monument type found across Cork and Kerry in which a large flat stone is flanked by uprights and set within a broader ring, often with proposed astronomical alignments. This group, however, falls short of that classification, hence the cautious designation. The stones themselves are modest in scale, none rising much above knee height, and each is oriented along a slightly different axis: the northernmost runs roughly north-west to south-east, the recumbent north to south, and the third stone roughly south-south-west to north-north-east. Whether those orientations once carried meaning, or whether the group has simply shifted and settled over centuries of agricultural use, is not recorded. A few loose stones lying about suggest the site may have lost elements over time.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of Anomalous stone group, Gour, Co. Cork. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement