Standing stone, Carrickittle, Co. Limerick

Co. Limerick |

Stone Monuments

Standing stone, Carrickittle, Co. Limerick

A modest limestone pillar standing just under a metre and a half tall in a County Limerick field might not announce itself as anything remarkable, yet its precise, deliberate placement in the landscape suggests it has been marking something for a very long time.

Standing stones of this kind are among the most enigmatic survivals of early prehistoric Ireland, raised by communities whose exact intentions remain unclear, whether as territorial markers, ritual focal points, or memorials. This one, sitting quietly in the townland of Carrickittle, is easy to overlook, which is perhaps part of what makes it worth paying attention to.

The stone was recorded by O'Kelly in 1944, who described it as a limestone pillar measuring four feet six inches high by three feet six inches wide and one foot nine inches deep, or roughly 1.37 metres by 1.06 metres by 0.53 metres in today's terms. O'Kelly noted that it stands in the field immediately to the north of a neighbouring monument, identified in the archaeological record as LI033-028, and sits about sixty feet, or 18.3 metres, north of that site's fosse. A fosse is a defensive or boundary ditch, typically associated with earthwork enclosures, and its proximity here hints that this stone may have once formed part of a wider complex of features in the immediate area rather than existing in isolation.

The site sits in rural south County Limerick, and like many such field monuments it occupies working agricultural land with no formal visitor infrastructure. Access would depend on landowner permission, and the surrounding fields may be grazed or under cultivation depending on the season. The stone itself is not large enough to dominate the view, so arriving with a grid reference from the Sites and Monuments Record is advisable. Once there, it is worth looking northward across the field and back toward the neighbouring monument to get a sense of how the two features relate to one another spatially, which is ultimately what makes a small, plain pillar like this one more interesting than its dimensions alone would suggest.

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, Carrickittle, Co. Limerick. 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