What is recorded here

Standing stone in Canalough is a fallen rectangular stone in West Cork, once upright in a visible socket beside a smaller upright aligned NE-SW. The stones face east along the Cloghane River valley, a long clean line of distance where a person could watch weather, travel or danger coming. They may have marked a boundary, a meeting place or a warning, but the valley itself still does the work: it shows what is approaching before it arrives.

In bog with commanding view E along Cloghane River valley. Fallen rectangular stone (L 4.07m; 1m x 0.57m). Socket (D 0.36m; 1.17m x 0.75m) still visible at S end of stone. Immediately to E is small upright stone (H 0.5m; 0.95m x 0.21m) aligned NE-SW. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Probably dates to the Bronze Age, given the presence of a socket and its positioning in a prominent landscape. It may have had ceremonial or territorial significance, possibly aligned with riverine or ritual pathways.

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