Ritual site - holy/saint's stone

The National Monuments Service's description

Located in upland rocky terrain on a SE-facing slope, with extensive views to W, overlooking the valley of Lough Nafooey, which is backed by the Maumturk mountains to SW and the Partry Mountains to NE.
This saint’s stone or traditional shrine is not recorded on the OS 6-inch maps. It is known locally as 'Lorg Padraig'. It consists of a small, low bedrock slab (0.5m NNE-SSW; 0.25m WNW−ESE) which protrudes from the ground surface. On the flat, upper surface of the stone there is a natural, shallow indentation (L 0.16m E-W; Wth 0.11m at E, 0.04m at W end; D 0.02m), trapezoidal in plan, which roughly resembles a footprint. According to local tradition, the indentation was made by the foot of St. Patrick.
At the time of visit, the ‘saint’s footprint’ was filled with small votive offerings, including coins, a plastic rosary beads, a small metal cross, and religious medallions.
The stone is enclosed by a roughly built drystone wall (Wth 0.25m; H 0.3-0.4m, 0.6m on the downslope side). The wall tightly hugs the outline of the saint’s stone, enclosing it in a rough U-shape, closed at E by a single upright stone (H 0.6m; Wth 0.5m).

Attached images:
MA120A011----_01.JPG Shrine viewed from E
MA120A011----_01.JPG The 'footprint' surrounded by religious artefacts/offerings.

This monument was notified to NMS by Michael Gibbons.

Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy

Date of upload: 18 April 2019