Ritual site - holy tree/bush

The National Monuments Service's description

In reclaimed pasture on the W side of an old road leading N into the Rathborney valley. Marked and labelled ‘Ancient Thorn’ on the 1839 and 1916 OS 6-inch maps. Indicated and named ‘Blessed bush and marks of St. Brigid’s knees’ on Tim Robinson’s map of the Burren (1999). This is a mature hawthorn tree up to 3m in height with a branch spread of c. 5m. Houlihan (2016, 44) noted that the tree is known locally as ‘Saint Brigid’s tree’ and that it is still visited by pilgrims, ‘having gained a reputation for holiness from a stone at its base thought by locals to hold the prints of a kneeling Saint Brigid’. The saint’s stone (CL005-168002-) was not found on inspection in 1989, but a photograph of it is published by Houlihan (ibid). 

 

Compiled by: Mary Tunney and Eve Campbell

 

Date of upload: 8 October 2025

References

Robinson, T. 1977 (revised 1999) The Burren: a two-inch map of the uplands of north-west Clare. Map scale 1:31680. Roundstone: Folding Landscapes. Houlihan, M. 2016 The sacred trees of county Clare. Privately published.