Standing stone, Leamnaguila, Co. Kerry
Co. Kerry |
Stone Monuments
A slab of green sandstone just over three metres tall occupies a small triangular field in the townland of Leamnaguila, its long axis running east to west and its upper profile tapering to a distinct point when viewed from the north or south.
What makes its placement quietly arresting is the alignment of its western end: look along that axis and you are oriented directly towards Aghadoe and the Lakes of Killarney, with Purple Mountain, Shehy Mountain, Tomies Mountain, and the Gap of Dunloe ranged across the backdrop. Whether that alignment was deliberate or incidental cannot now be said with certainty, but it is difficult to stand beside the stone and dismiss it as coincidence.
The stone measures 2.15 metres across and 0.75 metres thick, substantial even by the standards of Kerry's many standing stones, which were erected across a broad span of prehistoric time, most commonly during the Bronze Age. Around its base, the ground level has been reduced by roughly 0.65 metres over the centuries, meaning the stone once sat even deeper in the earth than it appears to now. Packing stones, placed deliberately to stabilise the base, survive on the south, west, and part of the north sides, and some of the original ground surface is still present around them. The western base is broken and a fractured piece of stone sits loosely in the gap. Despite these injuries, the monument is largely intact: its surfaces carry a varied coating of mature lichens, occasional crustose growths, and moss, and small pit marks running in vertical lines are put down to natural erosion in the sandstone rather than any human working of the surface.
The field sits on a level shelf of a south-facing slope, with heath and bog stretching away to the north and open views running from east through south and west to northwest. A farm trackway approaches from the northeast. The stone is in rough pasture rather than a managed site, so the ground underfoot is likely to be soft, and the surrounding landscape gives it a context that no interpretive panel could really improve upon.