What is recorded here

Gallán was a standing stone in a Cork pasture, an east-facing slope marker that appeared on maps in 1938 after decades of invisibility. Locals called it the scratching stone, implying it invited ritual marks or persistent human temptation rather than passive observation. Its removal around 1981 erased a live boundary between memory and forgetting, leaving only the absent shape behind.

Not shown on 1842 and 1904 OS 6-inch maps. Marked as single standing stone on 1938 OS 6-inch map. In pasture, on E-facing slope. Removed c. 1981; known locally as "scratching stone". The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 3: Mid Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1997). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Likely dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age, the stone may have had ritual or territorial significance. Locally known as a "scratching stone," such names sometimes relate to folk traditions or healing practices associated with the site.

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