Megalithic structure in Ballon

According to O’Toole (1933, 235), within a roughly rectangular ‘garden’ (dims. c. 22m NW-SE; c. 17m NE-SW) there is, ‘a small enclosure which is called the “old Church-yard.” It is stated that it was formerly used for the burial of unbaptized children [CW013-071002-] and that within this enclosure there was, ‘a very remarkable stone [CW013-071003-]’. The enclosure was levelled c. 1970 (Seaver and O’Neill, unpublished report, February 2022). According to an ASI field report (September 1988), ‘The stone formerly stood at the centre of a small enclosure defined by an earthen bank about 8m distant from the stone. To N of stone and inside [the] bank a trench (L c. 3m) with baked sides and filled with white ash or burnt bone was found during cultivation. There are no visible surface traces of the bank and the stone has been moved to the adjacent field boundary’. O’Toole describes the stone as being, ‘hexagonal in shape, five of the sides consisting of straight lines and the sixth is curved. It is six feet eight inches [2.03m] in length from east to west, and five feet ten inches [1.78m] from north to south; the depth is two feet [0.61m]. It is high in the centre and curves gently to the sides. In the middle of the upper surface there is a shallow basin-shaped hollow from which fourteen groovings or flutings, run to the outer edge. The sides of the stone seem to have been chiselled, but they are now overgrown with moss’ (ibid.). The ASI field report (September 1988) describes, a ‘Large granite boulder (c. 1.2m dim.). Upper surface has pattern of grooves, possibly artificial but forming no particular pattern although appearing to radiate from a central area’. A report in The Nationalist and Leinster Times 21 June 1947 describes the ‘Druid’s Altar’ as, ‘a burial stone of the cromlech group, resting on four supports sunk to foundation depth’ (Seaver and O’Neill, unpublished report, February 2022). The supports are also mentioned by Fr. Peadar Mac Suibhne, who describes how the boulder had, ‘stones under it like legs under a stool’ (ibid.). Prehistoric pottery was found in 1940, in rabbit burrows under the ‘stone’ (ibid.). Based on the available information it is not possible to classify the boulder with any certainty, though its association with prehistoric pottery and the reference to support stones suggests it is part of the megalithic tomb tradition or a boulder-burial. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of revised upload: 21 February 2022