Standing stone, Bunacrower, Co. Mayo

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Stone Monuments

Standing stone, Bunacrower, Co. Mayo

A thin blade of limestone rises 2.6 metres out of a Mayo pasture, barely half a metre wide and only 20 centimetres thick, its proportions closer to a knife than a pillar.

At Bunacrower, this long narrow slab stands orientated east to west, a deliberate alignment that almost certainly meant something to whoever hauled it upright, though precisely what has not survived alongside it.

The stone sits among rock outcrop, with packing stones still visible protruding at its base, the ancient wedging material used to keep the slab stable in the ground. That detail matters: it shows the original installation rather than a later re-erection, and it gives a rare glimpse of prehistoric technique. The site is not isolated in the landscape; another standing stone lies roughly 100 metres to the north, suggesting this part of Bunacrower once formed some kind of structured arrangement rather than a single isolated monument. The area around Lough Mask and Lough Carra in south County Mayo is well documented for prehistoric activity, and D. Lavelle's 1994 archaeological survey of the Ballinrobe district recorded this stone as part of a broader pattern of ancient presence in the region.

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Pete F
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