Gallauns (1846). — Derrygarrane South

This severely disturbed site is depicted as two standing-stones, titled 'Gallauns', on the first edition of the OS map. It is recorded in the OSNB as 'two tall stones about 4 feet asunder' which were each '7 feet over the surface and 3 1/2 feet thick' (Templeno, 16). The site is located in rough pasture, a short distance N of the Derreendarragh river, and now consists of an earth and stone mound with a large prostrate slab on its surface. The low, flat-topped mound is of subcircular plan and measures 25m in overall diameter. The slab, partially concealed beneath a holly tree, is rectangular in outline. It features a straight edge at its present E end, while its W end tapers to a rounded point. It measures 3m long, 1.1m wide and .4m thick. There is no apparent trace of the second stone. Windele assigned this site to an incorrect townland (Derreendarragh) and recorded that, several months before his visit to it in 1848, the standing stones had been undermined by 'treasure seekers' and toppled one over the other. He noted that the uppermost stone bore an ogham inscription, and that both had formerly stood within a barely perceptible 'circle of stones' which had a diameter of 33 feet (10.1m). This circle was comprised of fifteen or sixteen stones (RIA MS 12 C 11). Brash visited the site in 1872, by which time half of the mound had been cut away and a number of the stones, which he described as having formed a 'megalithic sepulchral arrangement' around the prostrate slabs, had been removed. The ogham stone was damaged, and a large flake had been knocked off its inscribed angle. It measured 10 feet (3.04m) long, 3 feet 6 inches (1.06m) wide and 2 feet 10 inches (.86m) thick, and the inscription was cut in deep, broad grooves (1879, 192-5). Both Windele and Brash read it as: ANM CRUNAN MAQ LUQISMA Macalister recorded that the site was demolished by road-makers in the late 1880s (1945, 213-4). He accepted Hitchcock's illustration (RIA MS 24 E 39) of the ogham inscription, which gives a similar reading to Windele's and Brash's except that it ends with LUQIN. The above description is derived from A. O'Sullivan and J. Sheehan (compilers), 'The Iveragh peninsula: an archaeological survey of South Kerry'. Cork University Press (1996), no. 128. In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload: 28 July 2013