What is recorded here

Flahertys Stone is a fallen slab lying inside Finner Rath, a circular platform on a small Donegal hill where modern fences still cut through the ancient earth. Macalister claimed the name Liatach appeared on its surface, yet twenty-seven test trenches found no hidden chamber or buried structure beside it. The stone may have marked a boundary, a warning or a memory before the ringfort formed around it.

A circular platform (DG106-006001-) surrounded by a fosse and an outer bank. Internally near the SW edge is a recumbent stone, probably a fallen standing stone 1.25m × 0.3m which gives the monument its name of “Flahertys Stone”. Macalister (1949, 120) claimed to have read the inscription 'Liatach' on this stone. The platform, known as 'Finner Rath', is largely natural being the top of a small hill. Modern field fences run through the site. It is situated in good land but close to sand dunes. Killanin and Duignan (1962; 1967) describe a site on Finner Hill, known as Flaherty's Stone', as a chambered cairn. It is a ringfort (DG106-006001-) within which is a prostrate slab, possibly a fallen standing stone. Killanin and Duignan 1962, 114; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 127; Lacy 1983, 173, no. 1043 (plan); SMR 1987, 106:6; RMP 1995, 106:6. No Archaeological Features Excavation Licence No. 00E0369 No archaeological features were identified from 27 test trenches undertaken by Gerry Walsh in the vicinity of the ringfort.

Flahertys Stone is likely from the Neolithic or early Bronze Age, given the presence of a circular platform and fosse, features common in ritual or ceremonial monuments of that period. The stone may have had a symbolic or ritual function, possibly linked to ancestor veneration or territorial marking, though specific folklore or use is not recorded.

The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.