Saints Grave — Doonaltan

Situated on the flat summit of a ridge bordering the E side of a steep-sided ravine through which the Ballymeeny River flows. Marked as ‘Saints Grave’ on the 1837 and 1913 OS 6-inch maps and traditionally known as the burial site of St. Farannan. The cairn consists of an oblong, densely-packed heap (L 12m NNE–SSW; 4.8m WNW-ENE; H 1.05m) of small and medium-sized river cobbles. It has a rounded top and broadly slumped sides and is partly moss and sod-covered. At its NE end a modern statue of a saint stands on a concrete pedistal. A low mortared wall (L 4.5m; H 0.6m) of roughly coursed rubble extends S from the E side of the plinth to revet the NE end of the cairn. The cairn is located at the N end of a flat rectangular area (c. 24m N-S; c. 12m E-W) enclosed by a modern iron fence. A rough path leads down the ravine slope to the river. On the E bank of the river is an altar (SL011-058001-). According to local information, as part of the traditional ‘pattern’, pilgrims visited a holy well (SL011-057----) located c. 60m to NW on the W slope of the ravine. As they returned across the river, they collected a stone from a river pool, also used as a holy well (SL011-058002-) and then placed it on the cairn. Compiled by: Jane O'Shaughnessy Date of upload: 2 July 2011