Standing stone, Athdown, Co. Wicklow

Co. Wicklow |

Stone Monuments

Standing stone, Athdown, Co. Wicklow

A granite pillar stands in the floodplain of Ballydonnell Brook in County Wicklow, separated from a neighbouring graveyard by nothing more than a shallow ditch.

What is quietly unusual here is the arrangement: a small triangular patch of ground, roughly 35 metres east to west and 15 metres north to south, seems to belong to neither the living nor the dead, sitting in that ambiguous margin between the ancient stone and the Christian burial ground beside it.

The stone itself is modest by any measure. Just 0.9 metres tall, 0.3 metres wide, and 0.2 metres thick, it has a distinctive D-shaped cross-section, flat on one face and curved on the other, a feature sometimes seen in prehistoric standing stones and thought by some researchers to reflect deliberate shaping rather than accident of geology. Its top is missing, which means its original height is unknown; what survives may be only a fraction of what once stood. Standing stones of this kind are a familiar presence across the Irish landscape, raised during the Bronze Age or earlier as boundary markers, ceremonial focal points, or indicators of burial, though in most individual cases the precise purpose remains genuinely unclear. The proximity of the graveyard next door raises the question of whether this particular stone marked sacred or significant ground long before the first Christian burial was made nearby, a pattern found at many Irish sites where prehistoric monuments and early medieval or later burial grounds occupy the same small stretch of land.

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 Standing stone, Athdown, Co. Wicklow. 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