What is recorded here

Two sandstone pillars stood on a hidden rise at the Mayo Roscommon boundary until sledge hammers broke them around 1920. Fragments recovered near a quarry match the stone thirty metres away, suggesting a deliberate alignment across the county line. Human bones from the third to sixth century AD emerged nearby, hinting that the stones marked a place of burial or ritual long before they were destroyed.

On elevated ground immediately adjacent to the boundary between counties Mayo and Roscommon. Unpublished NMI Topographical Files record ‘the base of two standing stones, both about 2’ x 8” [0.6m x 0.2m] in plan, which were said to have been broken up with sledge-hammers about 1920.’ They were found ‘close to and in line with another standing stone [RO032-001001-], of similar cross-section’, which is located c. 30m to NNE in Co. Roscommon (SMR file). In the early 1990’s ‘two broken fragments of roughly shaped sandstone’ found on the margins of a quarry (diam. 25-30m; D 3m) were interpreted as possible remnants of the two standing stones. Geochemical analysis of the two stones fragments (L 0.9m and 0.96m; both: Wth 0.57m; T 0.24) indicates that while both stones are carboniferous sandstone, they are from two different sources; one fragment is from the same source as a standing stone (RO032-001001-) sited on top of a low mound c. 30m to NE in Kiltullagh townland, Co. Roscommon. The two standing stones may have stood on top of a natural rise, remnants of which were still visible at the margin of the quarry. Fragmentary human bones (MA103-042003-) dating to 3rd to 6th century AD were found at the quarry in 1991 and may represent burials or ritual deposits associated with the standing stones (Cribin et al. 1994). Inhumed and cremated burials (RO032-001004-) were also found in association with the Roscommon standing stone (RO032-001001-) and with an adjacent ringbarrow (RO032-001002-). The inhumations may date to the early medieval period. There is a rath (MA103-041----) 290m to SW and a medieval church (RO032-002007-) 300m to SE. Compiled by: Jane O’Shaughnessy Date of upload: 23 November 2022

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