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Bolart
North: Standing-stone Clonfertmulloe:
Multiple bullaun 3.2 km NNW of Borris-in-Ossory, 6.4 km ENE of the beautiful early monastic site of Mona Incha, 50 metres from a by-road in a field on the opposite side of the road from a ruined church and 200 metres W of it, is a quartzite boulder measuring 1.5 by 1.6 metres by 60 cms high, with 4 bullauns from 20 to 28 cms deep and 25 to 45 cms wide, and another small half-bullaun. Known as "St Molua's Stone" it is associated with (but probably pre-dates) the nearby monastic site. ~ 6.5 km SSW (4 km SW of Borris-in-Ossory on sheet 60) is Skirk Castle (S 219 840), an Anglo-Norman motte-and-bailey whose bailey (yard) is a circular henge, adapted for mediæval military use. In the centre is a large conglomerate standing-stone, some 2.2 metres high and very phallic from one angle. ~ About 9 km SW
of Clonfertmulloe, and 8 km WSW of Borris-in-Ossory (S 193 838, sheet
60) are "The
Timoney Stones" - see under county Tipperary.
Clonfinlough:
Petroglyphic boulder In the middle of a field about 4 km E of the celebrated monastic site of Clonmacnois, near Clonfinlough Catholic church, stands a large, flattish boulder of Carboniferous sandstone over 3 metres long by 2.5 wide, embedded in the side of an esker. It is thickly covered with deeply-incised designs, mostly in the form of cup-marks and elongated crosses, and a design dubbed "The Split Year" (by H. Wirth, 1936): a circle divided in two halves by a vertical line. These occur among solution-pits, some of them foot-shaped. Whether in fact it is prehistoric has been debated. It is certainly not beautiful - unlike the nearest comparison, at Carrowreagh in county Donegal (see under Magheranaul ). But when photographed by Ken Williams it is magically transformed, and can be declared a genuine prehistoric artefact. Clonkeen:
Standing-stone South of the road between the R.442 and the R.400, just south of Clonbulloge (Laois), a remarkable hammer-headed or mushroom-shaped erratic stands in the middle of a field. A 30 cm deep oval depression in the W side is reminiscent of similar depressions in stones at Ballynoe in Down and at the Wicklow stone circles. Glenafelly:
Standing-stone In the heart of the Slieve Bloom 'mountains', this massive Fiddler's Stone is not marked on the OS map but is easy to spot, close to the road opposite a parking area for the Slieve Bloom trail. It is 1.3 metres high and 1.7 metres wide. Lemanaghan:
Bullaun-stones An ancient trackway, paved
with huge blocks of stone, leads around the south of the ruined twelfth-century
St. Manchán's church which incorporates some Romanesque fragments
in the S window, and a fragment of an ogam inscription in the N wall.
Following this takes you to some other monuments associated with the
7th century monastery. ~ At Boher Church, to the E is St. Manchán's Shrine. Manger:
Megalithic kist Hidden beneath a bramble-thicket by the roadside, some 7 km SE of Timahoe (Laois), is a fine example of a megalithic kist, with a slipped roofstone measuring 2.5 x 2.2 metres, and a chamber about 1.4 metres deep. Behind the backstone some dry-stone walling is visible. To the E are the tops of some stones which may be remnants of a surrounding stone circle. Meelaghans:
Multiple bullaun 4.8 km SE of Tullamore (Offaly)
and 800 metres W of Meelaghans crossroads, 400 metres S of a level crossing
in a circular copse of thorn trees, approachable by a muddy lane and
across two fields, "The Nine-Hole Stone" is a large sunken
boulder now surrounded by a little wall. Its exposed surface (1.8 metres
in diameter) displays 6 perfectly-formed
bullauns up to 30 cms in diameter
and half as deep. A seventh is unfinished, and two further natural depressions
make up the nine holes. ~ In another little copse just beyond is another larger and higher boulder containing a single bullaun 35 cms in diameter. Unlike the others it does not hold water, due to a fracture in the limestone. |