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Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ritual site - holy/saint's stone

Looscaun, County Galway, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ritual site - holy/saint's stone, Looscaun, County Galway, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Looscaun
County
Galway
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Not indicated
Latest-edition OS map
Not indicated
Coordinates
53.03553, -8.35306
SMR number
GA132-039----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

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This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

A large sandstone boulder (H c. 0.7m; L c. 1m; Wth c. 0.75m) is known locally as St Patrick's stone. The boulder has a chair-like appearance with projecting 'wings'. An inscription on it reading 'St Pater' probably dates from the 18th to the early 20th century and is lightly inscribed. According to one local tradition St Patrick left the impression of his knees on the stone while another records that the saint actually sat on it. A smaller sandstone slab lies just to the W of the boulder. Most of the latter is embedded in the ground but a series of shallow depressions are evident on it and they may be associated with the tradition relating to the imprint of the saint's knees. A small sandstone pillar stone (H c. 0.5m) visible 2.65m to the S of boulder may also be associated with it (Cunniffe 2014, 6-7).

Compiled by: Olive Alcock

Date of upload: 26 February 2014

References

Cunniffe, C. 2014 St Patrick's Chair, Looscaun. South East Galway Archaeological & Historical Society Newsletter 14, 6-7.

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
All Ritual site - holy/saint's stone in Galway All County Galway records All Ireland Heritage registers Historical markers (US)National Register of Historic Places (US)
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