Standing stone, Hermitage, Co. Cork

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Stone Monuments

Standing stone, Hermitage, Co. Cork

Two standing stones rise from pasture near Hermitage in east Cork, set roughly 120 metres apart on an east-facing slope.

That pairing is what gives the site its quiet interest. Standing stones, prehistoric upright monoliths whose precise purposes remain debated, occasionally appear in such loose alignments, and the similarity in shape and size between these two suggests they were not placed by chance or at random intervals of time.

The stone described here stands 2.26 metres tall, rectangular in profile, with its long axis running north to south and a width of 0.82 metres tapering to just 0.2 metres in depth. At its base, packing stones, the smaller rocks used to stabilise and wedge a standing stone during erection, are still visible where the ground has shifted or eroded around them. There are also some striations, shallow grooves or scratches, running along the northern edge of the stone. Whether these marks are the result of ancient working, glacial action, or simple weathering is not recorded, but they add a small note of texture to what is otherwise a clean, spare form.

The stone sits in open pasture, and the second stone of similar dimensions lies to the south. Visitors approaching the site would do well to look for both, since the relationship between them is arguably more telling than either stone considered alone.

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Pete F
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