What is recorded here

Half-buried in Kerry pasture, the shallow cross still catches rain and bootmarks. Pilgrims walked the lake’s edge beside it, scratching small stones into repeated prayer until the ground itself learned the shape. What began as a hermit’s marker became a living boundary between memory and forgetting.

In undulating pasture, on the E-facing slope of a hillock to the E of a marshy area that was formerly Lough Mackeenlaun. This stone (0.45m x 0.4m; T 0.2m), which sits on the ground, is subrectangular in plan and has a simple Latin cross (0.23m x 0.18m; D c. 0.01m) inscribed on its upper surface. The stone is beside a path along which pilgrims walked in a clockwise direction while making the 'rounds' at the adjacent lake (see KE108-004001-). On the ground beside the stone are several small stones with which pilgrims repeatedly scratched the outline of the cross. 'Rounds' which have been revived in recent years, take place here annually on 7/8 July. The remains of a hermitage (KE108-003----) and another cross-inscribed stone (KE108-004003-) lie 6m and 10m to the W, respectively. See attached colour photograph courtesy of Amanda Clarke. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Kerry. Volume I: South-West Kerry' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2009). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 30 May 2011

This cross-inscribed stone likely dates to the Early Christian period (5th–9th centuries AD) and may have functioned as a memorial or waymarker. The presence of a cross suggests a Christian association, possibly linked to early monastic or settlement activity in the area.

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