What is recorded here

Derreeny holds a square sandstone erratic, up to 1.75m high, bearing cup-and-ring marks in rough Kerry upland. The largest cup, seven centimetres wide, sits beside a smaller six-centimetre mark enclosed by faint rings. Directly south, a hemispherical enclosure uses the boulder’s own face as one wall, suggesting a hut rather than a passive stone. Sheep still graze around it, unaware they walk beside a chamber someone built around a marked rock.

In upland area of rough sheep-grazing. Panel of rock art with possible hut site (KE082-110----) identified and described by Aoibheann Lambe as; 'A prominent large sandstone glacial erratic which is roughly square-shaped in plan (dims. c. 3m x 3m) and up to 1.75m high at S and W and approx. 1m high at N, upper surface at E is overlain by peat and vegetation is inscribed with rock art on its upper surface. The rock art appears to be confined towards the N end of the boulder’s upper surface and includes a cup-and-ring mark with a central cupmark (Diam. 6cm) enclosed by two faint rings - in oblique light, traces of 2 or more partially enclosing rings can be discerned at W. S of the cup-and-ring motif is another larger cupmark (Diam. c. 7cm) which has faint traces of an enclosing ring. Directly S of the boulder, there is a hemispherical-shaped enclosure or possible but site (KE082-110----) whose straight side at N is partially formed by the S face of the boulder' (A. Lambe 12/03/2023). See attached photographs courtesy of Aoibheann Lambe Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien based on details provided by Aoibheann Lambe Date of upload: 13 March 2023

Likely dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age, the rock art may have had ritual or territorial significance, possibly linked to early farming communities in the upland landscape. Its association with a possible hut site suggests it could have been part of a wider domestic or ceremonial setting.

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