Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Rock scribing - folk art
Ballykeel South, County Clare, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Ballykeel South
- County
- Clare
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 52.99186, -9.22856
- SMR number
- CL016-008----
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
On low-lying marshy coarse pasture with rock outcrops. Marked and named ‘carved hand’ on Robinson’s (1977) map. O’Connell (1991, 144, fig. 8.3) includes a drawing of an engraved hand which he describes as from near Ballykeel House. He also recounts a local tradition ‘that it was carved during Penal Times and when the Sun shone on the thumb it indicated where the Mass vessels were hidden.’ (ibid.). Coffey (1995, 15) visited the stone and described it as a human arm, elbow and hand with splayed fingers, having a small cross etched on the hand. Field inspection in 1999 did not locate the carving.
Compiled by: Mary Tunney
Date of upload: 1 February 2022
References
O'Connell, J.W. 1991 Post medieval and early modern times in the Burren. In J.W. O'Connell and A. Korff (eds), The book of the Burren, 141-152. Kinvara. Tír Eolas.
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.
Coffey, T. 1995. Fieldnotes. The Other Clare 19, 15-17.
Nearby in the register
- Ringfort - cashelunder 1 mi
- Enclosureunder 1 mi
- Graveyardunder 1 mi
- Churchunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.