Stone
Rows.
Previous
Journals have referred to the artefact known as
a Gallaun or Standing Stone.
We have many of these in our Parish and
they are very familiar to us.
We are not certain about the meaning or
use of a single Standing Stone but it is not
difficult to guess why they were used by Bronze
Age man.
Probably they had several uses including
the usual ones we think of such as use as a
place
marker, a burial place or a direction
indicator or sign post.
In a a
number of instances we find three or more
standing stones apparently aligned in a straight
row.
These are distinguished by Archaeologists
as Stone Rows.
They are usually three in number, but
have been found up to six.
They are usually oriented along a
north-east/south-west axis.
It is
much more difficult for us to visualise the use
of Stone Rows, but we usually think in terms of
a ritual or ceremonial use, and sometimes people
can detect a solar or lunar orientation.
The
matter is further complicated by the occasional
finds of Pairs of stones, but these sometimes
result from a Row of three losing one of it’s
stones over the years.
We have
about 85 of these artifacts in our area,
including Pairs of Stones.
Of these 12 are within our Parish or
close by.
They
include sets in the townlands of Cloghboola Mór,
Cloonshear Beg,
Coolavoher,
Derrynagree,
Dooneens,
Dromcarra North,
Monavaddra,
Reananerree,
Rossnakilla,
Turnaspidogy,
Bawnatemple and Gortafludig.
At least that is what it says in the
“Archaeological Inventory of County Cork”.
You may find some of these incomplete or
hard to find.
Thus for
example the set in Turnaspidogy stood in the
lands of the McCarthy farm and three were noted
100 years ago but apparently only one remains
today.
Probably
the most interesting set is in Reananerree near
to the Ringfort and the Fulachta Fiadh.
There are still six stones in this set,
aligned and increasing in height from
north-east/ south-west.
Peter O’Leary