What is recorded here

St Colm Cille's Boat is a four-metre boulder on the Galway shoreline, shaped like the bows of a vessel and marked with what locals call the saint's giant hand. People believe he sailed it from Aran, leaving grooves behind from oars and anchor chain. Visitors to nearby holy wells still take fragments as relics, treating the stone less as geology and more as a gift from the drowned road.

On the shoreline about 20m to the SW of the old section of the graveyard (GA091-001002-). According to Tim Robinson (pers. comm), this large boulder (4m N-S; 3m E-W; max. H 2m at W), shaped like the bows of a boat, is known locally as 'St Colm Cille's Boat'. It is believed that the saint sailed on it from Aran and that the mark of his (gigantic) hand is visible on the deck, and that grooves on the edges were worn by the oars and the anchor chain. Visitors to the nearby tidal holy wells (GA091-006---- and GA091-007----) take bits of it as relics. (Hardiman 1846, 63; O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 3, 84-5; Killanin 1946-7, 130-31) Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 17 February 2023

This stone, shaped like the bows of a boat, is traditionally associated with a local saint or holy figure, possibly linked to maritime protection or healing. It is believed to have been used in rituals related to safe sea travel or the curing of ailments connected to the sea, reflecting the coastal community's reliance on and reverence for the ocean.

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