What is recorded here

St Patrick's stone in County Galway is a large sandstone boulder with a chair-like shape and projecting wings. Local tradition claims the saint either sat on it or pressed his knees into the smaller slab beside it, while a later inscription simply labels it St Pater. The story turns an ordinary rock into a witness of divine presence, inviting people to imagine the saint lingering in a forgotten corner of Ireland.

A large sandstone boulder (H c. 0.7m; L c. 1m; Wth c. 0.75m) is known locally as St Patrick's stone. The boulder has a chair-like appearance with projecting 'wings'. An inscription on it reading 'St Pater' probably dates from the 18th to the early 20th century and is lightly inscribed. According to one local tradition St Patrick left the impression of his knees on the stone while another records that the saint actually sat on it. A smaller sandstone slab lies just to the W of the boulder. Most of the latter is embedded in the ground but a series of shallow depressions are evident on it and they may be associated with the tradition relating to the imprint of the saint's knees. A small sandstone pillar stone (H c. 0.5m) visible 2.65m to the S of boulder may also be associated with it (Cunniffe 2014, 6-7). Compiled by: Olive Alcock Date of upload: 26 February 2014

St Patrick's stone is associated with the patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick, and is believed to have been used as a site for early Christian worship or pilgrimage. The chair-like shape may suggest it was used as a seating stone for a priest or as a symbolic relic of the saint's presence in the area.

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