The example at Coolsallagh, in County Cork, occupies rather less accommodating ground: a north-facing slope, set into bogland, where the combination of soft terrain and aspect makes it feel genuinely out of the way. That modest sense of obscurity is part of what makes it worth knowing about.

The stone itself is compact rather than monumental. It stands 1.39 metres tall and is nearly square in cross-section, measuring roughly 0.72 metres by 0.6 metres, giving it a blocky, almost column-like presence rather than the flat blade profile common to many prehistoric standing stones. Its shape is irregular, and its probable long axis runs east to west, a detail that may or may not be intentional but which invites the kind of speculation that surrounds most prehistoric megalithic monuments. Standing stones of this kind were erected across Ireland during the Bronze Age, though their precise purposes remain debated; some are associated with burials, territorial markers, or astronomical alignments, while others resist any tidy explanation. This one, sitting quietly in its bog, offers no obvious answers.