Standing stone - pair, Ludden More, Co. Limerick

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Stone Monuments

Standing stone – pair, Ludden More, Co. Limerick

At the northern edge of a low hill in Ludden More, County Limerick, there are two standing stones that have spent more of their recent existence lying down than standing up.

The older of the two descriptions, recorded by Barry between 1916 and 1919, noted them as 'two liagan stones, one prostrate', a liagan being a pillar or long stone in Irish usage, typically associated with prehistoric markers or boundary indicators. By 2000, the situation had grown more complicated. A local witness, John McInerney of Raheen, described one stone as a substantial pillar, roughly ten feet long and two feet thick, that had recently been moved to a nearby field boundary. What was already a reduced monument had been further displaced, most likely in the course of agricultural land improvement.

The site sits in improved pasture with extensive views to the west, north, and east, and lies just five metres from a mound recorded separately in the archaeological inventory. That proximity is worth noting. Paired standing stones and nearby earthen mounds are a recurring combination in the Irish prehistoric landscape, suggesting these stones may once have formed part of a broader ceremonial or funerary arrangement, though the specifics here are unrecorded. Neither stone appears on the Ordnance Survey's historic maps, which means the pair left no impression on the cartographic record, perhaps because by the time surveyors arrived the stones were already recumbent or unremarkable in their fallen state. Aerial imagery from three separate surveys conducted between 2005 and 2018 shows no trace of the monument at all, which raises a further question about whether the displaced stone has since been buried, removed entirely, or simply absorbed into a field wall.

For anyone visiting, the accessible location on improved pasture means the ground is generally walkable, though the hill sits on private farmland and permission should be sought locally. The commanding views from the northern edge of the hill are unchanged regardless of the stones' condition, and the associated mound five metres to the north remains a distinct feature worth looking for. Given that the stone is recorded as having been moved to a field boundary, a careful examination of any nearby drystone walls or boundary markers may be the most practical way of locating what remains of a monument that has, at least in the documentary record, all but disappeared.

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