What is recorded here

Three granite stones stand aligned north to south in Smithstown, decreasing in height like a fading voice. Rev. P. Moore called them the three friars in 1849, seeing fraternal companionship rather than burial, though local lore later claimed Cromwellians murdered three monks there in 1651. The northern stone fell in 2012 and returned upright in 2015, painted white, as if the row had shaken off darkness and refused to disappear.

Three granite stones, aligned N - S and set 1.2 - 1.7m apart. The stones decrease in height from S to N. The S stone measures 1.35m high is 0.85m W and 0.4m T. The middle stone is 1.25m high, 0.7m wide and 0.5m T. The N stone is 1.1m high, 0.6m wide and 0.5m T. This stone fell in 2012 and was re-erected in 2015 when the stones were painted white (Munster Expresss, 24 February 2015, page. 10). In 1849 the Rev. P. Moore recorded they were 'vulgarly termed "the three friars" a name derived, so far as he could conjecture, from no connection with the burial of friars, or from any such having suffered death there, but from these stones having been grouped together in mute and fraternal companionship.' (Moore 1849, 28). This story has been developed further in local lore and they are now considered to mark the place where three monks were murdered by the Cromwellians in 1651. Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 27 February 2015

Likely dating to the Neolithic or Bronze Age, this stone row may have had ceremonial, astronomical, or territorial significance. Such alignments are often associated with ritual practices or markers for seasonal events in prehistoric landscapes.

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