Gallauns, Farrannahineeny, Co. Cork
Co. Cork |
Stone Monuments
Four standing stones rise from the boggy southern spur of Carrigariark, at the eastern end of the Shehy Mountains in West Cork, arranged in a line that runs northeast to southwest across the open hillside.
What makes the alignment quietly compelling is not just its age but its asymmetry: the stones increase in height as you move along the row, from a modest 1.3 metres at the northeastern end to a considerably more imposing 2.8 metres at the southwestern terminus, creating a deliberate gradient that feels anything but accidental. A fifth stone lies flat to the north of the second upright, measuring 2.45 metres in length, and whether it once stood as part of the row or served some other purpose has never been firmly resolved.
Stone rows, sometimes called gallauns in Irish, are a prehistoric monument type found across southwest Munster in particular, and are generally attributed to the Bronze Age, though precise dating remains difficult for most examples. This row, catalogued by Seán Ó Nualláin in 1988, stretches 8.2 metres in overall length across the four principal stones. The spacing between them is uneven, ranging from just over a metre between the tallest stones to 2.55 metres between the first and second, a variation that is fairly typical of the form. About 6 metres to the southwest, a further cluster of stones sits partly obscured by a fence, its relationship to the main alignment unclear. The monument is protected as a National Monument in State Care.