Standing stone, Derrymihin, Co. Cork

Co. Cork |

Stone Monuments

Standing stone, Derrymihin, Co. Cork

Most standing stones stand.

This one at Derrymihin, in West Cork, has been lying flat for long enough that the distinction hardly matters anymore. Measuring 2.3 metres in length and just 34 centimetres thick, it is a large, slab-like piece of stone, now prostrate in the pasture of a south-facing slope, its original upright purpose legible only in its shape and in what surrounds it.

What makes its position particularly interesting is its proximity to a burial ground, sitting just four metres to the north of it. Standing stones across Ireland are frequently found in association with funerary or ritual sites, and while the relationship between the two at Derrymihin is not explicitly documented, the closeness is difficult to read as coincidence. Whether the stone once marked the boundary or approach to the burial ground, or served some earlier purpose that the later use of the land absorbed and built upon, is the kind of question that tends to outlast the evidence. The stone itself offers no inscription, no obvious dressing, and no recorded folklore to narrow things down.

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Pete F
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