Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Ritual site - holy/saint's stone
Knockaloura West, County Galway, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Knockaloura West
- County
- Galway
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Latest-edition OS map
- Not indicated
- Coordinates
- 53.55795, -8.77190
- SMR number
- GA030-087----
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
In pastureland. This is a limestone glacial erratic boulder (H 0.65m; L 1.55m; Wth 1.25m) with a number of fissures on its surface. According to local information, the water that collected in the fissures was regarded as holy water and people used to bless themselves with it when they passed the boulder. The boulder was not dedicated to a particular saint and the water was not a cure for any particular ailment. A similar boulder (GA030-088----), with the same tradition, lies c. 440m to the SW.
Compiled by: Olive Alcock
Date of upload: 1 October 2014
Nearby in the register
- Barrow - unclassifiedunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
- House - indeterminate dateunder 1 mi
- Ringfort - rathunder 1 mi
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.