What makes this particular stone unusual is not just its own presence but its position within a densely layered prehistoric landscape: it sits on top of a bowl-barrow, a type of burial mound typically consisting of a central mound enclosed by a ditch and outer bank, which is itself enclosed within a complex containing two ditch-barrows, a ring-barrow, and evidence of a habitation site. The hill's level summit gives clear sightlines in every direction, and the clustering is not accidental. A second standing stone is visible 800 metres to the north-east, a large barrow lies 1.5 kilometres to the west-south-west, and a mound-barrow sits 1.8 kilometres to the south. The whole hilltop reads as a place that successive communities returned to across long stretches of time, each adding to what was already there.

The stone itself had a more recent drama. During a storm in approximately the 1960s it broke in two, and was subsequently repaired by the Office of Public Works, the state body responsible for maintaining many of Ireland's monuments. The repair is plain to see: the base is now encased in a modern concrete block, measuring 0.8 metres by 1.2 metres, with a metal stabilising rail attached. The surface of the sandstone is weathered, as you would expect of something that has stood exposed on a hilltop for a very long time, but the stone itself is solid and the repair has kept it upright and vertical. It is a slightly odd combination, ancient and institutional, the prehistoric pillar anchored in twentieth-century concrete, but it is also simply the reason the stone is still standing at all.