Pillar Hill

In woodland on high ground overlooking a lake to NW, on the demesne lands of Currah Chase House and castle (LI020-119----) standing 337m to NW. Annotated 'Pillar Hill' on the 1840 ed. OS 6-inch map indicating the presence of a pillar stone from which the hill was named. Annotated 'Pillar' on the 1897 OSi 25-inch map. The monument is not visible on Google Earth orthoimage taken 14/02/2020 as the area is covered with trees. An architectural column rather than a standing stone which formed part of the designed landscape feature of the demesne of Curraghchase House. In 1829 Aubrey de Vere of Curragh Chase House recollected how upon the passing of the Catholic Emancipation Bill he ‘remembered climbing to the top of a high pillar on the summit of a hill opposite our house, though how the seat was achieved I cannot conceive, and standing upon it for many minutes, waving a lighted torch round my head in the gathering darkness’ (De Vere 1894, 760-8). See attached photograph courtesy of Stephen Murphy Compiled by: Fiona Rooney Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 11 April 2022