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Standing stone

Standing stone, pair

What is recorded here

Two white quartz stones stand three metres apart on a hillock beside Ballynakill Lough, aligned northwest to southeast like a doorway marked for people who no longer speak. The southern stone keeps its pyramidal shape while the northern stone lies prostrate, suggesting one partner fell or was lowered during a change of beliefs. They belong to a wider complex near Lough Sheeauns, where stone and water may have measured season, death or descent.
On a small hillock immediately to W of Ballynakill Lough. Aligned NW-SE and 3m apart. Both stones are of white quartz. The N stone is now prostrate (0.9m by 0.7m by 0.4m); S stone is pyramidal in 'shape (H 0.9m). Part of a complex of monuments centred on Lough Sheeauns to W (see GA022-006----). (Ó Nualláin 1988, 197, where misplaced in Sheeauns td.) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). Date of upload: 05 August 2010
Probably dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age, these quartz standing stones may have had ceremonial or territorial significance, possibly aligned with solar or ritual practices. Local folklore sometimes associates such paired stones with ancient boundaries or protective landmarks.

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What survives
Recorded monument

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