The stone at Keernaun has been doing exactly that ever since, tapering slightly as it rises to a height of 1.85 metres, its base roughly 1.35 metres wide and narrowing to 0.85 metres at the top, with a thickness of half a metre throughout. It is not a dramatic landmark so much as a quiet, deliberate one, oriented along a north-south axis in the middle of undulating pastureland, the kind of alignment that recurs across prehistoric standing stones in Ireland and is thought by some researchers to carry astronomical or territorial significance, though no one can say with certainty what was intended here.

What the stone does preserve, visibly, is evidence of how it was originally set. Around its base, and particularly on the western side, a number of small packing stones remain in place, wedged in to hold the slab steady after it was raised into position. This kind of stabilising detail is easy to overlook, but it tells you something concrete about the effort involved: the people who erected it were not simply dropping it into a hole but carefully bracing it, ensuring it would stay put. The limestone itself is the local material of choice across County Galway, and the slightly rounded profile of this particular slab suggests either natural weathering or deliberate shaping, though the notes do not specify which.