Cairn

Reference to a cairn, possibly a leacht within the Aghaboe area (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, 159). A cairn, possibly a leacht, within the Aghaboe area, described in the History of the Queen's County as 'In the immediate neighbourhood of Aghaboe Protestant Church tradition points out in the fields of the position and direction of former roads, that led to this old monastery….In part of a rich pasture field, some aged hawthorn branches were to be seen, and beneath them there was a small stone pile, resembling a stone cairn. My informant (Mr. Jeremiah Dunne owner of the field) told me a tradition, that the coffin of St Canice had been laid there before his interment, by the people of Aghaboe. When the writer visited that spot (August 2nd 1869), one of the aged hawthorns had falled ten years previously, and it lay across the ordinarily travelled roadway. (O'Hanlon and O'Leary 1907, vol. 1, 159). The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Laois' (Dublin Stationery Office, 1995) compiled by P. David Sweetman, Olive Alcock and Bernie Moran. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 17 December 2007