What a way to start the day! My friend Graham had sent me a photo of this monterously large stone a couple of weeks ago and I simply had to see it for myself.
The stone stands in a farmyard between two out-buildings. The inventory classes this as a possible standing stone, because when they visited it was recumbent. They also have the length of the fallen stone down as 4.3m. Well, the stone is now standing again, thanks to the farmer, and the two pieces have been joined back together. The stone is now just under 6m tall.
When you stand next to the stone it seems much bigger than Ireland's tallest standing stone at Punchestown (County Kildare), but that is 6.2m tall. I think it's the sheer bulk of this stone that gives it such a commanding presence and the fact that it is next to two buildings, which gives it a sense of scale. It is said that when the stone was re-erected and put into its new concrete base that it was set 30cm lower than it previously stood. If this is the case then it would have equalled Punchestown in height.
This is an explanation of (and a bit of a disclaimer for) the coordinates I provide. Where a GPS figure is given this is the master for all other coordinates. According to my Garmin these are quite accurate. Where there is no GPS figure the 6 figure grid reference is master for the others. This may not be very accurate as it could have come from the OS maps and could have been read by eye. Consequently, all other cordinates are going to have inaccuracies. The calculation of Longitude and Latitude uses an algorithm that is not 100% accurate. The long/lat figures are used as a basis for calculating the UTM & ITM coordinates. Consequently, UTM & ITM coordinates are slightly out. UTM is a global coordinate system - Universal Transverse Mercator - that is at the core of the GPS system. ITM is the new coordinate system - Irish Transverse Mercator - that is more accurate and more GPS friendly than the Irish Grid Reference system. This will be used on the next generation of Irish OS maps. |