Gallaun, Baile Uí Uaithnín, Co. Kerry

Co. Kerry |

Stone Monuments

Gallaun, Baile Uí Uaithnín, Co. Kerry

A single slab of stone rises from the peat in Baile Uí Uaithnín, on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, tilting slightly towards the south-east as though caught mid-lean by some ancient disturbance.

What makes it quietly arresting is the combination of its dimensions: broad and flat rather than needle-like, it has the outline of a house gable, wider than it is deep, giving it a distinctly architectural silhouette against the bog.

Recorded by Judith Cuppage in her 1986 archaeological survey of the Corca Dhuibhne region, the stone stands 2.2 metres above the surrounding peat and measures 2.54 metres in width at its base, while its thickness is a relatively slender 0.42 metres. It is oriented on a roughly north-east to south-west axis, an alignment that is common among standing stones in Ireland and may reflect deliberate astronomical or territorial intent, though the original purpose of most such monuments remains genuinely uncertain. Standing stones of this kind are prehistoric in character, though assigning a precise date is difficult without excavation; many across Munster date broadly to the Bronze Age. The Kerry landscape is particularly rich in them, and Cuppage's 1986 survey catalogued dozens across the peninsula, each with its own character and setting. This one, rising from the peat rather than from open ground, has a particular quality of having been slowly swallowed and then held by the bog, which has likely contributed to its preservation over millennia.

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