Ritual site - holy/saint's stone

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on W side of road 25m SW of St. Patrick's Well (TN020-056----). Large roughly rectangular-shaped stone (approx. dims. L 1.65m; H 0.5m) known locally as St. Patrick's Stone set on edge and incorporated into the roadside boundary hedge on W side of public road opposite St. Patrick's Well (TN020-056----). The exposed surface has numerous deep vertical lines (L 0.25m x D 0.03m) cut into the surface of the stone and along the edge of the rock at the top and at the bottom. This rock appears to have been used as a sharpening stone, the dating of which is uncertain. The cuts are similar to cut marks found on stones associated with megaltic monuments in France where they are referred to as 'Le Polissoir' (the polisher) and elsewhere as 'Grooves' and 'sword sharpening stones'. In 1938 the following folklore regarding this stone was recorded in Carrick National School; ’At St. Patrickswell in the townsland of Ballywilliam in the Parish of Youghlalarra is a stone on which there are marks. I (the writer) was always told as a young lad that the marks were those of St Patrick's fingers. The stone is from 5 to 6 ft [1.5-1.8m] in length & 2 to 3 ft [0.6-0.9m] high. I do not know how wide it is as it is built into the fence. The marks are somewhat like the following, all on the face but I could see without the ditch that there are some of top. They look like Bronze age markings’ (pers. comm. Joann Hinz; The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0535, Page 472; www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5162112/5155297)

The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details kindly provided by Derek Ryan.

Date of upload: 8 February 2017