What is recorded here

Three upright stones still mark a narrow line through peaty pasture near Kenmare, perhaps guiding livestock or measuring something lost to time. They stand only four metres apart, yet they have watched the land change from open ground to bog for thousands of years. People may have walked past them during festivals, trades or quiet prayers, but their names and purposes have faded. The stones remain visible because they are larger and harder than the living soil around them.

In rough peaty pasture, on a hillock c. 4km E of Kenmare. A row of three upright stones, aligned NE-SW, and measuring 4m in overall length. The NE stone (L 0.8m; T 0.5m; H 0.8m) is 0.9m from the middle stone (L 0.65m; T 0.55m; H 0.8m). The SW stone (L 1m; T 0.5m; H 0.9m) is 0.65m from the middle stone. Two radiocarbon determinations are available for samples taken 5m W of the stone row (Lynch 1981, 97-9). That from basal peat yielded a date of c. 70 BC and charcoal from 3-5cm below the surface of the mineral soil yielded a date of 1380 BC (ibid.). An anomalous stone group (KE093-026001-) lies c. 300 to the NW. (Ó Nualláin 1988, 239, no. 66; Ruggles 1999, 193, CKR45) 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

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